Craptacular. Via Froomkin:
Mike Allen writes for the Politico: “White House loyalists have begun arguing that clemency for I. Lewis ‘Scooter’ Libby — either a pardon or a commuted sentence — would be a way for an embattled President Bush to reassert himself, particularly among conservatives.
“The White House has not ruled out a pardon for Libby, sources say. But several Republicans, who sense a movement in Libby’s favor, said a more likely possibility might be a presidential commutation — a reduction or elimination of Libby’s 2½-year federal prison sentence. Such a move, they said, would be less divisive for the country. . . .
“The lobbying is subtle, according to participants. They say that making the case directly to the president or his top aides would be insulting and could backfire. Instead, friends of Bush and Libby have been quietly working cocktail parties and other venues, laying out their logic for a pardon.”
So does that mean they’re lobbying people like Allen himself, rather than Bush? Writes Allen:“In an effort to get their messages to the top echelons of the White House, Libby’s friends cooperated with recent articles by Jim Rutenberg of The New York Times and John Dickerson of Slate, whose piece bore the subhead: ‘No way Scooter Libby is going to prison.'”