What Are Freinds For?

I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, who used to be Vice-President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, was sentenced back in March to 2 1/2 years in prison for his role in the Valerie Plame investigation. He was found guilty of lying to a special prosecutor for revealing the name of the CIA operative, whose husband had questioned the motive behind going to war with Iraq.

Thanks to President Bush, Libby won't be serving any prison time. His sentence was commuted, but the conviction and the $250,000 fine still stands. Even though Libby wasn't pardoned, which some conservatives wanted, the White House left open the possibility that it might happen eventually. The President said he respected the jury's decision, but called the judge's sentence "excessive".

Vice President Cheney has been insisting lately that he doesn't consider himself part of the executive branch of government, but as part of the legislative branch in his role as President of the Senate, so he could keep secret documents away from the National Archives. (The Constitution says otherwise, but the Bush White House has been known to make their own rules)

Since Libby once worked for Cheney, it's entirely possible that the Vice President may have been behind the commutation. It's also possible that commuting Libby's sentence wasn't Bush's decision to make. Maybe it was Karl Rove (has anyone heard from him lately?).

So who's really running the show inside the White House?