Good for Bush. Libby was almost certainly guilty of at least some of what he was convicted for, but there’s a good chance that he would have been convicted on fewer counts if Judge Walton had let the jury hear from a memory expert or see the Tim Russert clips that I mentioned near the end of this column. Under the circumstances, it makes perfect sense to reduce, but not eliminate, Libby’s punishment.
It’s worth noting, by the way, that the argument William Otis made in a Washington Post op-ed last month seems to have reached the President’s ear; Bush has done for Libby exactly what Otis suggested.
