Scooter and Fred!

You can read all about Patrick Fitzgerald's recent sentencing submission to the court in which he insisted that Valerie Plame was indeed covert under the IIPA Statute over at Tom Maguire's pad. Since I've wasted plenty of idle time on such speculation I feel compelled to waste a little more, but in a different way.

I don't care to debate whether Libby was lying or not. His third grade effort was hardly convincing and most of his supporters have argued the case shouldn't have been brought to begin with, not that he was innocent. Forget the whys and wherefores of whether Valery Flame was lying to Congress and why Congress doesn't care, or why Armitage wasn't charged, or why Judith Miller had Wilson's number in her day planner before talking to Scooter. None of the differnce-makers in DC care. The people who can potentially make a difference are the ones writing letters of support for Scooter, and those letters have now become a point of contention.

Judge Walton has asked the "press" to supply reasoned arguments as to whether he should release letters of support received on Scooter's behalf in their appeal for sentencing leniency. Is there any doubt that one of them is from Fred Dalton Thompson? Why no:

The public deserves to know, then, if such people believe obstruction of justice should simply be treated lightly because a powerful person worked long hours. For example, former Senator and likely presidential candidate Fred Thompson actively raised funds for Libby’s defense. If he were to write a letter belittling the jury verdict, that might suggest contempt for our jury system that presidential voters deserve to consider when they cast their presidential vote.

Crafy devils, aren't they? And they do fear Fred.

Here's my question. Thompson has not been shy about supporting Libby from day one. He thinks Scooter was railroaded and subject to a political witch hunt. Today he almost announced his run for the Presidency. Why risk blowing it all by allowing a support letter written on behalf of a Bushco exec to be made public at such a strategic time? He knows what the MSM will do with such a thing.

Could it be because the letter Marcy Wheeler and Jane Hamsher want so desperately to be released in an effort to scuttle Thompson's chances might do the exact opposite? Fred is a pretty crafty devil in his own right. Perhaps we'll soon see.