With the entire political spectrum reacting to Scooter Libby's commuting of his sentence, my casual search in the White House website reveals the careless and dismissive tone from the Office of the Press Secretary in regards to the possibility of a Libby pardon.

I am shocked that President Bush chose political gain over the judicial process when he commuted Scooter Libby’s sentence. To tell the truth, I never knew that Presidents had the power to “commute” sentence of an individual today. I guess we are seeing some rarity in the limits of the power of the President. President Bush effectively sold his last bit of integrity to secure political power in his faltering and growingly rebellious base. He claims that the sentencing of Scooter Libby was harsh and inappropriate, but it begs the question, why did then a Bush-appointed judge gave such a “harsh” sentence?

Regardless, I took the liberty to search articles relating to Scooter Libby on the White House website, and during the search I found an interesting remark that Ms. Dana Perino of the Office of the Press Secretary made in regards to the development in the Scooter Libby’s case. Note that this was March 6, 2007. (White House webpage)

Q Let me ask you about some of the congressional reaction. You have Senator Reid saying that President Bush must pledge not to pardon Libby for his criminal conduct. What's the reaction to that?

MS. PERINO: Well, I'm aware of no such request for a pardon. And as is afforded to all Americans, there is a process that is followed in which to apply for a pardon. And I don't think that speculating on a wildly hypothetical situation at this time is appropriate.

Did Ms. Perino say, “a wildly hypothetical situation” for a pardon? Many conservatives were pushing for such an outcome, and all due respect for Ms. Perino (She seems to be such a nice person) I think it is a little careless to sweep such a possibility as wildly hypothetical. Let the briefing continue….

Q You're not closing the door to it, you're leaving the door open to a pardon?

MS. PERINO: I'm not commenting on a hypothetical situation. I think that that is the best way to respond to that. I think that there is a process in place for all Americans, if they want to receive a pardon from a President, be that any President that is in office, and I'm aware of no such request.

Either the President Bush kept the entire Office of the Press Secretary in the dark or she is deliberately trying to clear away from the topic, but in either case it shows the lack of delicacy that Ms. Perino was handling the questions as we see how these events transformed to the commuting of Scooter Libby’s ordeal in prison.

To be honest, I think commuting of Libby’s sentence was more hypothetical than a whole pardon, because I have not heard from anyone to talk about a commuting possibility while the Republican Presidential candidates were boasting that they would pardon Libby if they were President.

What a crazy year it has already developing….