Pardon Me?

(NEWSER) - Dick Cheney pursued a pardon for former aide Scooter Libby so doggedly in his final days in office that he pushed the bounds of his 9-year relationship with George Bush, reports Time. It wasn't so much a political issue as a moral "crusade" for Cheney, write Massimo Calabresi and Michael Weisskopf. He implored Bush not to leave "anyone on the battlefield" and said anything less than a full pardon would tarnish their legacy in the war on terror. "Cheney really got in the president's face," says one source. "He just wouldn't give it up." More»

Ex-VP pushed prez for reprieve 'til he left DC

(NEWSER) - Dick Cheney is furious that President Bush wouldn’t listen when he repeatedly pushed for a last-minute pardon for Scooter Libby, the New York Daily News reports. The ex-VP “went to the mat and came back and back and back at Bush” for a full pardon, said one close to Cheney. "He was still trying the day before Obama was sworn in." More»

(NEWSER) - Dick Cheney believes disgraced former chief of staff Scooter Libby, convicted in the CIA leak investigation, deserved a pardon, the Weekly Standard reports. “He was the victim of a serious miscarriage of justice,” the former vice president said. “Obviously, I disagree with President Bush.” Bush’s decision has been ascribed to an honest belief in Libby’s guilt, but also to a desire for the pardon not to appear politically motivated. More»

Scooter Libby? Alberto Gonzales? The entire CIA? Speculation swirls

(NEWSER) - President Bush has shown no inclination to go on a Clinton-esque pardon binge, but that won't stop Josh Gerstein of Politico from speculating. Here are the potential pardon/commutation prospects, and the odds:

• All CIA and military interrogators: Bush could make a big splash with a blanket pardon to anyone who may or may not have tortured suspects in the war on terror. But it’d be legally tricky and enrage many. Odds: 4 to 1

Conviction a 'miscarriage of justice,' writes Fred Barnes

(NEWSER) - “Simple justice” should compel President Bush to pardon Lewis “Scooter” Libby, writes Fred Barnes in the Weekly Standard. “Libby has either been punished far too severely for a very small offense,” writes Barnes “or he is an innocent man.” Libby was convicted of perjury and obstruction—but not the actual leaking of CIA agent Valerie Plame’s identity to columnist Robert Novak. More»