Today’s edition of quick hits.<\/p>\n
* Dan Froomkin<\/a>: “Bush’s decision yesterday to commute Libby’s prison sentence isn’t just a matter of unequal justice. It is also a potentially self-serving and corrupt act. Was there a quid pro quo at work? Was Libby being repaid for falling on his sword and protecting his bosses from further scrutiny? Alternately, was he being repaid for his defense team’s abrupt decision in mid-trial not to drag Cheney into court, where he would have faced cross-examination by Fitzgerald?”<\/p>\n * Rudy Giuliani used to believe one year behind bars for perjury was too lenient<\/a>. In Libby’s case, Giuliani believe no time behind bars is entirely appropriate. I wonder what the difference is?<\/p>\n * Defense Secretary Bob Gates has an idea<\/a> he’s willing to pitch to the Hill: he’ll shut down the surge policy, if Dems will commit to a long-term U.S. military presence in Iraq. It seems like a non-starter.<\/p>\n * Gates also has a few ideas he’s willing to pitch when it comes to shutting down<\/a> the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay.<\/p>\n * Joe Lieberman seriously believes Iran has already “declared war<\/a>” on the United States, and wants the nation to respond in kind. The poor man isn’t well.<\/p>\n * Slate’s Tim Noah, whose work I usually enjoy, has a very odd and misguided take<\/a> on the Libby commutation. Thankfully, Digby takes him to task<\/a>.<\/p>\n * Newspaper editorial boards across the country were unimpressed with the president’s decision on Libby. E&P has a round-up<\/a>, but I particularly liked the Seattle Post-Intelligencer’s take: “President Bush’s commutation of a pal’s prison sentence counts as a most shocking act of disrespect for the U.S. justice system. It’s the latest sign of the huge repairs to American concepts of the rule of law that await the next president.” * Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) is making a run<\/a> for the Dumbest Republican Presidential Candidate Award: “Yesterday on MSNBC’s Hardball, [Hunter] said that Elizabeth Edwards’s calls to stop making ‘personal attacks’ against her family were attempts to ‘silence conservative voices.’ He added that Coulter ‘is a very articulate spokeswoman for the conservative view’ and ‘closely approaching that level of being a great American.'”<\/p>\n * Rumor has it that Keith Olbermann will devote a “special comment” to the Libby commutation tonight on MSNBC. Something to look forward to.<\/p>\n * Would you believe Sean Hannity is still praising<\/a> The Path to 9\/11 miniseries? Even now, the Fox News personality believes the discredited fiction “got it right.”<\/p>\n * AP<\/a>: “Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who is in the midst of divorce proceedings with his wife, acknowledged in a statement published Tuesday that he is in a relationship with a Spanish-language television reporter.” Villaraigosa’s a Dem, but if he were a Republican, he’d still be well positioned to run for president<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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\n* Food for thought: “Paris Hilton did more time than Scooter Libby<\/a>.”<\/p>\n