Pardon me

So President Bush, to the surprise of nobody, intervenes to keep Scooter Libby out of prison. This, after the famous statement, "Anybody involved with leaking Valerie Plame's identity will be out of my administration" (that's paraphrased--I'm not wasting my time hunting down the original quote). I guess it's simply embarrassing when investigations reveal that everyone in your administration secretly talked to the media at one time or another in the scandal. But Bush's mere "commuting" of Libby's sentence, negating the two-and-a-half year prison sentence but not the conviction, caught many by surprise. Bush said he "respects" the jury's decision, but the punishment was too harsh. Ha.

Bush is merely deferring as much controversy as he can for the time being. Commuting the sentence keeps Libby out of prison for now while the appeals play out in court. In the final days of his presidency--just you watch--Bush will grant Libby a full pardon, arguing that Libby has already suffered enough (translation: Members of Team Bush are above the law). It's all politics, all sleazy. Just watch. That full pardon is coming, and anyone who doesn't expect it is either a fool or delusional.

UPDATED: See? What'd I tell you?

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