l’etat, c’est lui

The latest from one of the guys McCain consults:

What’s more, Bush won’t be able to “stay out of it.” Others will continue to place his White House at the very heart of it, as the Libby appeals move forward. After all, Libby’s lawyers foolishly (or perhaps desperately) introduced at trial the notion that Libby was a “fall guy”–which would seem to legitimize the notion there was a conspiracy, of which Libby was a part, though a less important part than others. Each time a legal paper is filed, a new anti-Bush news cycle will erupt. So if the White House wants to minimize opportunities for fresh speculation about how the Libby case is part of some broader conspiracy, the president should act now.

So this is where “for-the-good-of-the-country” arguments come to, I suppose. As far as Kristol can tell, the most compelling argument in favor pardoning Libby — aside from the obvious claim that “there was no underlying crime” — rests on the craven wish to avoid “a new anti-Bush spin cycle.” Even more amazingly, Kristol insists toward the end of the piece that a pardon for Scooter Libby would “reinvigorate” the President’s strongest supporters, who are “demoralized” by the conviction.

. . . Kristol link fixed . . .

. . . and for the easily confused, Tom Hilton offers a nice chart guaranteed to keep you momentarily smarter than the Washington Post editorial board . . .