Punishment for Scooter Libby

Scooter Libby should get the same punishment that Bill Clinton got when he was less than truthful under oath. He lost his law license for five years. Clinton's lies were no less damaging; in fact, they were more damaging. Clinton was impeached for perjury and obstruction of justice, the same charges of which Libby was criminally charged. The only reason that Clinton was not convicted in the Senate was pure politics and mismanagement of the process; guilt or innocence had little to do with it. If I recall correctly, 45 members of the Senate voted to convict him.

Libby should lose his law license and this idiotic prosecution should be put to rest. Much like Martha Stewart, Libby was convicted for lying about a crime that the prosecution cannot prove even happened. It seems to me if it is a criminal matter, the underlying crime should be proven before a conviction could be had on obstruction of justice charges. If no crime has been committed, hasn't justice been served and therefore not obstructed? As for perjury, if it takes dozens of witnesses for the prosecution to make its case, it seems that the prosecution has a problem. Most perjury cases are slam dunks; they are easy. This was not an easy case and reasonable minds could differ.

In order to win this, the prosecution needed to bring in someone who already had a tremendous reputation for credibility - Tim Russert. Russert could very well be lying, but his reputation makes him practically unassailable. He is the Walter Cronkite of our day and people are very much inclined to believe him. I think his testimony would make it very difficult to not prejudice the jury because of his reputation and his celebrity status.