So far this page has given no treatment to the news yesterday that President Bush has commuted the jail sentence of Scooter. The obvious points are there for the taking. The administration has been laying the seed for this for months in saying that no underlying crime was committed.

I agree with most that has been said by editorial pages and bloggers across the board. However, I want to give special treatment to the article Slate is running. I like Slate, but sometimes they’re being contrarian only for the sake of being contrarian. Timothy Noah argues that Bush was right in sparing Libby.

Before we touch that, I think it’s worth pointing out that this President, who in his remarks said he was doing this out of compassion and a sense of justice, has issued fewer pardons than most presidents in the 20th century. We are all aware of his record granting clemency while Governor of Texas. I look forward to the White House pointing to other cases where Bush has used compassion in measuring fairness in sentencing; there are surely many applications he has received where just that would be warranted.

Onto Noah. Let’s examine his arguments.

But Judge Reggie Walton went overboard in sentencing Libby to 30 months. This was about twice as long as the prison term recommended by the court’s probation office, and if Libby hadn’t been a high-ranking government official, there’s a decent chance he would have gotten off with probation, a stiff fine, and likely disbarment. Walton gave Libby 30 months and a $250,000 fine, then further twisted the knife by denying Libby’s routine request to delay the sentence while his lawyers appealed it. (Libby was duly assigned the federal prison register number 28301-016, but Libby’s lawyers managed to move quickly enough to keep Libby out of the slammer until his appeal was denied on July 2, the same day Bush commuted his sentence.) The voluminous pleas for leniency from Libby’s A-list friends seem to have annoyed Walton, who erred on the side of severity not in spite of Libby’s high position in government but because of it. Walton wanted to make an example of him. [links original]

The media needs to have this settled, and I’ve heard it from other friends and tacit supporters of the administration as well: HIS APPEAL WAS NOT DENIED. Neither the appeal as to whether or not Libby’s conviction or the punishment was inappropriate, nor the appeal as to constitutionality of the special prosecutor has been settled. Instead, the appeal that was denied yesterday was an appeal to be granted bail. His other appeal will presumably continue, still allowing conservatives to challenge the conviction and the prosecutor, and leaving room for a Bush pardon if that fails.

Then Noah invokes the holy spirit of any argument, CLINTON DID IT. Though we see a slight shift in tactic — instead of saying that Clinton has a glib and highly suspect list of 11th hour pardons, Noah says that Clinton committed perjury — Clinton was acquitted of that charge as well as obstruction of justice. As well, let’s not forget the severity of the two offenses: a lie about a relationship, and a lie about unmasking an undercover agent, at the behest of the Vice President, to undermine a dissenter.

I could write more but have work to finish. Keep this in mind: this isn’t over yet, and there could still be a pardon on January 20, 2009.