Late to the Libby Table

On the plus side, I got to live an extra 36 hours or so blissfully unaware that Bush had commuted Libby's sentence. On the minus side, it sucks to come home from five happy days in the wilderness and have that be the first piece of news you get. On the other minus side, other bloggers have already said just about everything (including, of course, our own Kathy). So I'll just add a few random comments on the commentary.

First, proving again that smart people often say stupid things, Michael Kinsley contorts himself to draw a parallel between Libby and Clinton. Been there, done that. Hint to Kinsley: a perjury trap and a 'perjury trap' are two different things.

Meanwhile, Scott Lemieux writes about a case that really does parallel Libby's, with one determinative difference: the other guy isn't connected to the Bush administration.

Finally, while Josh Marshall and Froomkin are right in identifying the most important issue ("it's inappropriate for the president to pardon or commute a sentence in a case in which he...is a party to the same underlying crime", which Marshall shouldn't even have to point out but helpfully does), it's not exactly unprecedented. W may not have learned much from his father, but he did learn the lessons that count.