I come not to bash Scooter Libby; that's being done well enough without me making a contribution.
I come neither to call for Bush's impeachment; I think he should have impeached for actions worse than commuting Libby's sentence.
I have come to inform (or remind) the community that Libby wasn't the first person of questionable character to have their punishment reduced.
Let's take a brief walk back in time (cue wavy flashback sequence...)
I'm sure we're all aware of the pride George W. Bush has taken in executing criminals. He famously flaunted his "no tolerance" approach during one of the 2000 Election debates, and since his war he has repeatedly equated "the enemy" as criminals who deserved no less than a firing squad.
Imagine my surprise, then, when I stumbled upon the story of Henry Lee Lucas. Lucas was a violent criminal, a habitual liar, and (as a result of the lying) a possible serial killer...which makes his story (and case) all the more confusing.
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Lucas's early life was no picnic. His mother (Viola) was "a sadistic, alcoholic whore who earned the bulk of the family’s meager income providing sexual favours to strangers." His father, also an alcoholic, lost his legs in a train accident and suffered as much of Viola's wrath as Lucas did. Besides being forced by his mother to watch her "work," Lucas was also introduced to bestiality and zoosadism via his half-brother.
What Lucas has or hasn't done has pretty much depended on (A) the law enforcement involved and (B) Lucas' own credibility. He once admitted to killing a young woman in 1951 for rebuffing his advances, but there are no records of this woman or the crime, and Lucas has since recanted his story. Although he served 15 years for his responsiblity in his mother's death (he stabbed her during an argument), because she didn't actually die until 48 hours later, the official cause of death was a "heart attack, precipitated by the assault." Also, his connection to Otis Toole made it hard to determine what crimes were committed by Lucas alone and what crimes Lucas had just witnessed or heard second-hand.
It didn't help matters that the Texas-based "Lucas Task Force" and then-Attorney General butted heads over the validity of Lucas' confessions.
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Officially, Lucas was charged with the death of his mother, his lover/common law wife Frieda Powell and an 82-year old woman named Kate Rich (both in Texas). The "Lucas Task Force" has his total (between himself and his time with Toole) to be around 350 victims. Lucas' original testimony was that he was responsible for over 3,000 murders. Out of all of this confusion, there came one death penalty conviction...but it was linked to one of Lucas' "confessions," not the deaths of Viola, Powell or Rich.
It wasn't until the Orange Socks incident that Lucas' credibility was publically questioned. One of those questions was whether or not the death penalty was an equitable punishment for Lucas's crimes.
This is where George W. Bush stepped in.
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Out of 153 death penalty convictions that came across his governor's desk, Bush commuted the sentence of only one: Henry Lee Lucas. On the matter Bush stated:
"Henry Lee Lucas is unquestionably guilty of other despicable crimes which he has been sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison," said Bush, in Brownsville for a conference of U.S.-Mexico border state governors. "However, I believe there is enough doubt about this particular crime that the state of Texas should not impose its ultimate penalty by executing him."
Sounds familiar, huh? Keep in mind that this is the same person who refused to pardon or commute born-again Christian Karla Faye Tucker even after people like Newt Gingrich, Pat Robertson, and the Pope made a plea for clemency. And Bush's stance on Tucker? Well, according to an interview with Tucker Carlson back in 1999:
In the weeks before the execution, Bush says, a number of protesters came to Austin to demand clemency for Karla Faye Tucker. "Did you meet with any of them?" I ask. Bush whips around and stares at me. "No, I didn't meet with any of them", he snaps, as though I've just asked the dumbest, most offensive question ever posed. "I didn't meet with Larry King either when he came down for it. I watched his interview with Tucker, though. He asked her real difficult questions like, 'What would you say to Governor Bush?'" "What was her answer?" I wonder. "'Please,'" Bush whimpers, his lips pursed in mock desperation, "'don't kill me.'" I must look shocked — ridiculing the pleas of a condemned prisoner who has since been executed seems odd and cruel — because he immediately stops smirking.
So even though Lucas was guilty for "despicable crimes," it apparently wasn't as "despicable" as Tucker's or the other 151 people I'm sure Governor Bush painstakenly reviewed. And Bush would know...he's such a upstanding person, right?