Pardon Me, Please....Quickly.

Okay, so Scooter Libby finally gets sentenced to a 2 1/2 year bid for outing CIA operative Valerie Plame. 30 months isn't a whole lot of time, considering the fact that he put someone's life in direct danger, but then again, that's par for the course with Bush and Co. Scooter, like all the loyal fallen soldiers that proceeded him (Powell, Gonzalez, Rumsfeld) wouldn't snitch and tell everybody what we already know (Dick Cheney orchestrated this whole thing as revenge on Plame's husband), and now it's gonna cost him.

With just over a year left in office, you can't help but wonder if Bush will shorten his boy's sentence, Paris Hilton style on the way out of office next December. This isn't anything new, presidents have been giving their buddies the ceremonial Get Outta Jail Free Card since the beginning of time. Clinton did it of course, pardoning the dispicable Marc Rich, among others, but negroes hardly noticed because some wise staffer who read Emerge Magazine told him to Free Kemba Smith. This was of course, noble, albeit a few years late, but let's not let revisionist history/selective amnesia paint Slick Willie as some kinda honorary Negro. Black President my ass.

I can't see a dude named Scooter lasting very long on the yard, not even in one of those country club type prisons where they serve cheesecake and you get to bring your own clothes.

Still, Bush has been known to throw his lackeys under the bus once they're no longer useful. Harriet Miers is back to bagging groceries at Safeway. Rod Paige has disappeared from the planet. Alberto Gonzales' days are numbered.

This all comes down to perception. If Bush and Co. run the numbers and see Scooter as a liability, he'd better master the art of soap holding. Then again, the Bush administration's approval rating is a negative 125, and they've got Linsday Lohan type lawyers. They could easily bite the bullet for their homeboy and pardon him right off the bat.

PoliTricks as Usual. Man, and they wonder why more people don't vote.

In the West Wing, Pardon Is A Topic Too Sensitive to Mention [WaPost]