In drama – and in real life as well - players and events thrown together in improbable circumstances cause surprising or unanticipated outcomes (”situational irony“). When the drama is played out in Washington, D.C., there is always a Greek chorus of hypocrites who loudly criticize the players for infractions of which they, too, are guilty.

With this in mind, isn’t it ironic that:

† During the course of an investigation to determine who identified Valerie Plame as a CIA employee, Richard Armitage - who admitted being the leaker - has not been indicted or prosecuted?

† Rather than shutting down the investigation after the leaker’s identity was known, Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald continued taking depositions and hauling people before grand juries to entrap them into making misstatements for which they could be indicted?  

† Scooter Libby - who was not the leaker - was the only person prosecuted as a result of an investigation to find the leaker?

† Scooter Libby was found guilty of perjury and obstruction of justice in a trial during which no witness corroborated the story of another witness – meaning that their versions of events were no more or less credible than Libby’s?

† President Bush specifically selected Reggie B. Walton to fill a vacancy on the federal bench in 2001 because of his tough-on-crime reputation and track record of imposing stiff sentences?

† The Bush administration recently announced a tough new crime bill that empowers judges to impose longer - but not shorter - sentences, and the president commuted Libby’s sentence because he felt it was excessively harsh?

† Libby, who was Marc Rich’s lawyer when he was seeking a pardon from then-president Bill Clinton, would need a similar intervention by the executive branch himself just a few years later?

And isn’t it hypocritical that:

† Dems who vociferously argued that public humiliation was punishment enough for Clinton’s perjury, are now equally vociferous in their demands that Libby get jail time?

† In what Bush spokesperson Tony Snow called a gigantic case of chutzpah, Hillary Clinton denounced the commutation because it “sends the clear signal that in this administration, cronyism and ideology trump competence and justice,” despite the 140 pardons and 36 commutations her husband granted during his last hours in the Oval office having included pardons for his half brother, Roger, who was convicted of dealing cocaine and the aforementioned Rich, whose ex-wife donated gobs of dough to erect the Clinton Library?

† Hillary’s brother, Hugh Rodham, made a small fortune for successfully procuring a presidential pardon for a businessman under suspicion of money laundering and a commutation of the sentence of a convicted drug trafficker?

The Stiletto is pleased that the commutation keeps Libby out of prison, and hopes he will press on with his appeal to clear his name and overturn penalties to which he is still subject. You’ll recall that Clinton pardoned Fife Symington, after the former AZ governor had already successfully appealed his conviction on bank fraud charges – so a presidential pardon down the road would not be pointless.

Have PoliticalMavens.com delivered to your inbox in a daily digest by clicking here