That noted right-wing war-mongering neocon, Richard Cohen, says that Scooter Libby was railroaded by an out-of-control prosecutor, and that his fellow journalists are sanctimonious hypocrites.

Richard Cohen is merely a left leaning player of the inside-the-Beltway cabal that believes they constitute a privileged class, immune from the rules those living outside the Beltway must follow.

Inside-the-beltway myopia is a bi-partisan disease.

A Cohen quote:

With the sentencing of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Fitzgerald has apparently finished his work, which was, not to put too fine a point on it, to make a mountain out of a molehill. At the urging of the liberal press (especially the New York Times), he was appointed to look into a run-of-the-mill leak and wound up prosecuting not the leaker -- Richard Armitage of the State Department -- but Libby, convicted in the end of lying. This is not an entirely trivial matter since government officials should not lie to grand juries, but neither should they be called to account for practicing the dark art of politics. As with sex or real estate, it is often best to keep the lights off.

Rand, do you agree that it is better than we "keep the lights off" and that the "dark art of politics" as practiced inside the Beltway remain hidden?

Because THAT is Cohen's actual argument.

Cohen makes some disputable assumptions (I don't think it's clear that Libby actually broke the law; nor does Cohen's implied comparison with Clinton hold, since Libby lacked Clinton's intent to obstruct justice), but he's spot-on about the disproportionality of the prosecution and the flagrant partisan hypocrisy of many journalists.

Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell:

"The hatchet job is lost. U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton is incompetent and Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald is out of touch with reality."

"I've seen the numbers and they're impressive. This failed legal sham will translate into republican senate seats."

"journalists are sanctimonious hypocrites"

In other news, dog bites man.