Libby

I’m curious: why is it that George Bush is apparently digging in his heels and planning not to intervene in the Scooter Libby case? ~Kevin Drum 

First of all, I don’t think the “conservative base” cares very much at all about Scooter Libby.  Was there a grassroots groundswell for Cap Weinberger’s pardon?  This is such inside baseball that only the most strung out of political junkies actually bothers to form an opinion about it.  Vocal pundits, radio hosts and potential presidential candidates are the only ones who can be bothered to care about Libby’s fate.  Second, speaking of Weinberger et al., my guess is that Bush wants to avoid the inevitable comparisons between himself and his father’s Iran-Contra pardons.  Third, it is just the sort of thing everyone expects him to do, and Mr. Bush seems to enjoy doing whatever it is that conventional wisdom says that he won’t do.