I’m actually surprised that there is such a clamor over Scooter Libby’s conviction. The most amusing, of course, comes from that frequent moron: Bill Kristol. His little diatribe about loyalty and all that jazz has entered into the realm of “so stupid I can’t get mad at it”. He writes:

Will Bush pardon Libby? Apparently not–even if it means a man who worked closely with him and sought tirelessly to do what was right for the country goes to prison. Bush spokeswoman Dana Perino, noting that the appeals process was underway, said, “Given that and in keeping with what we have said in the past, the president has not intervened so far in any other criminal matter and he is going to decline to do so now.”

So much for loyalty, or decency, or courage. For President Bush, loyalty is apparently a one-way street; decency is something he’s for as long as he doesn’t have to take any risks in its behalf; and courage–well, that’s nowhere to be seen. Many of us used to respect President Bush. Can one respect him still?

I don’t understand why Billy boy is so concerned with pardoning Libby, but let’s think for a moment, shall we?

Pardoning Libby would be the dumbest thing possible at this point. It would send a message from the White House to the public that if someone is convicted of a crime, as long as that crime was orchestrated and perpetrated from within the White House, you’ll get off scot free. There seems to be this presumption that a pardoned Libby will look like Bush was just backing a loyal supporter and helping him when he was unjustly sentenced. That just ain’t so.

What a pardon says is “I don’t care what the legal system says, I say he goes free.” It shows a blatant disregard for the law and outright middle-finger-waving at the public at large. The legal equivalent of sticking his fingers in his ears and his tongue out of his mouth, mocking the rest of the country for thinking they could do anything if he were to break the law. Someone has to be the fall guy, or else he acknowledges that his administration will simply get themselves off the hook for everything.

Bush is not brilliant, but he’s not totally brain-dead. At least I hope not.