BUSH HANDS SCOOTER A “GET OUT OF JAIL FREE” CARD

Apparently Bush didn’t think the American justice system worked for his good pal so he stepped and used his powers of clemency to spare I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby - from two-and-a-half years in prison.

Cheney supported a full pardon, but Bush didn’t want to rub people’s noses in the stinking mess just yet so instead he commuted Libby’s sentence.

The main differences between a pardon and commutation is that with a pardon he goes free and with a commutation he goes free, but he remains guilty of the felonies of perjury, obstruction of justice, and making false statements in the federal investigation of the outing of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson. He will also pay a $250,000 fine which his friends say they are going to pay.

It was shortly after the federal court rejected Libby’s appeal to stay out of jail pending an appeal of his conviction for committing perjury and other offenses that King George rode in on his white horse and rescued poor Scooter.

The decider said he had “respect for "the jury's verdict. But I have concluded that the prison sentence given to Mr. Libby is excessive."

Some say Bush was bowing to political pressure from his conservative base. That may be, but I think protecting his own ass from revelations by an embittered former aide was somewhere in the mix.

"Until now, it appeared that the President merely turned a blind eye to a high ranking Administration official leaking classified information. The President's action today makes it clear that he condones such activity,” said Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee "This decision is inconsistent with the rule of law and sends a horrible signal to the American people.”

If you remember, "Scooter" was one of Bush’s closest advisers in the decision to go to war on Iraq and he was convicted of lying to prosecutors investigating the leaking in 2003 of CIA official Valerie Plame's identity.

I don’t know what the punishment is now, but outing a CIA agent during a war used to be punishable by death.

And about the definitions of a pardon and a commutation -- Personally, if it kept me out of jail, I wouldn’t care what they called it.

The California Curmudgeon