And here I thought the Bush administration was merely incompetent.

No, they have taken the concept of incompetence to an entirely new level. Like the Munchkin doctor said of the Wicked Witch of the East, “She’s not merely dead, she’s really, most sincerely dead.” Here’s a statement, via TPM Muckraker, from an Official White House Spokesman.

Q Scott, is Scooter Libby getting more than equal justice under the law? Is he getting special treatment?

MR. STANZEL: Well, I guess I don't know what you mean by "equal justice under the law."

Yes, this is taken somewhat out of context, but the hilarious thing is, that is what the guy really meant to say. Go read the entire exchange.

THIS is the best they can come up with? These clowns apparently don’t even care anymore that they look like complete fools on national television and the press.

On another, but related, point, I am somewhat amused about, but more saddened by, the Pandora’s Box that Bush apparently opened up by inserting himself into the legal process regarding Libby’s prison sentence. I wrote an earlier post about the Pandora’s Box that Bush and his neo-con crowd opened when they invaded Iraq. George Bush is getting to know Pandora rather well these days. George W. Bush, meet the Law Of Unintended Consequences.

It seems that Bush didn’t check out anything about commuting Libby’s prison sentence with, oh, the Justice Department or the prosecutor in the case, and he ignored some rather obvious guidelines about commutation of prison sentences, such as the notion that the person must first be serving his actual sentence in order for it to be commuted. He also didn’t check up on the fact that, by saying that the sentencing judge should have taken into account Scooter’s long years of government service, this being his first conviction, he is such an upstanding and fine citizen, etc., etc., Bush is directly contradicting the position he is taking by trying to impose sentencing guidelines on federal judges, where there are NO extenuating circumstances. No, he just made his decision, just because he wanted to, consequences be damned. He’s also confused Judge Walton, given that he now doesn’t understand how Bush can recommend “supervised release” for Libby’s sentence that Bush has already commuted.

Well, doesn’t this give just about every single defense attorney in the country whose client is up on a federal charge the freedom to appeal the sentence based on what Bush just did for one of his staff? All sentencing guidelines now are free to be questioned. This could really clog up the court system, even more than it is now, and actually let some people off the hook who really should have gone to jail.

Jeebus, these people are so ridiculous. They can’t even come up with coherent arguments that are supposed to defend their criminal and immoral actions. They just sit up there and spout gibberish that we are supposed to swallow without any questions. And they most certainly don’t seem to get the fact that they are not allowed to have one set of rules and laws for themselves, and a different, much more strict one that includes lots of harsh punishment, for everyone else. I’m sorry, but our system of government doesn’t work that way.

Here’s a more concise version of things from Christy at FDL.