So when is a crime not a crime?

Sigh.

President Bush spared former White House aide I. Lewis ''Scooter'' Libby from a 2 1/2-year prison term in the CIA leak investigation Monday, delivering a political thunderbolt in the highly charged criminal case. Bush said the sentence was just too harsh.

Bush's move came just five hours after a federal appeals panel ruled that Libby could not delay his prison term. That meant Libby was likely to have to report soon, and it put new pressure on the president, who had been sidestepping calls by Libby's allies to pardon Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff.

''I respect the jury's verdict,'' Bush said in a statement. ''But I have concluded that the prison sentence given to Mr. Libby is excessive. Therefore, I am commuting the portion of Mr. Libby's sentence that required him to spend thirty months in prison.''

Honestly, I still support the War, I still support Afghanistan, I opposed the immigration bill but respected GWB's stand. But this - while predictable and the right of the president - I find completely reprehensible.

OK, now all of the Libby supporters can tell me how this is morally right, despite all of our condemnations of Bill Clinton for doing the same thing.