...Bush's gift

********************************* CORRECTION: In an editorial on Thursday, the first name of Patrick Fitzgerald, federal special prosecutor in the I. Lewis Libby case, was listed as Peter. *********************************

Well, now we know what "compassionate conservatism" means. It means that if you're Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff, and you're convicted of lying to FBI agents and a federal grand jury, you don't have to go to prison -- even when many others have for similar offenses.

Lewis "Scooter" Libby was to be sent up the river, or so U.S. Attorney Peter Fitzgerald thought, after being found guilty of those lies in an investigation of a Bush administration leak by which Valerie Wilson had been revealed as a CIA operative. Her husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, was a critic of the administration's use of intelligence regarding Iraq. The leaking of his wife's CIA role has been viewed by some, including Wilson, as revenge for his criticism.

President Bush, in a statement, said he thought the 30-month prison sentence Libby received was "excessive." His commutation of that sentence stops short of the pardon that many Republicans have called for, and it means Libby still will have to pay a $250,000 fine and will stand as convicted unless he wins an appeal. But the sentencing followed guidelines, and others convicted of similar crimes have gone to prison.

The most cynical of the president's political foes will wonder aloud if Libby got this break so he won't inform on others in the administration with regard to the Valerie Plame Wilson case. But even those who might not buy that view can fairly question this decision, which further strains the White House's credibility when it comes to the rule of law and respect for the judicial system.

The controversy over Libby is yet another diversion for an administration that's looking like the gang that couldn't shoot straight. The Iraq war is a mess, the president's domestic agenda is weak and the waters 'round the White House are roiling with one uproar after another.

The president has the right to do what he did, and there is nothing anyone can do about it. But Bush is in effect thumbing his nose at the judicial process, and looking like he's simply doing a favor for a long-time Cheney insider. This is but one more poor decision, based on faulty judgment, in a long, long line of them.