“The president feels terribly for Scooter, his wife and their young children, and all that they’re going through.”

Isn’t that nice. The president feels terribly for Scooter, and his wife, and their young children! Awwwww how sweet. He feels sorry for the treasonous, lying sack of shit who outed a COVERT CIA agent. Gee, I wonder if he feels sorry for that COVERT CIA agent…..and her husband…..and her young children. I wonder if he feels sorry that Scooter Boy and Big Dick ruined her career. Nawwww…..he wouldn’t, because they didn’t serve His Heinyness well!!

From the Washington Post:

By Dan Froomkin

The White House has officially ruled out the possibility of a presidential pardon for Scooter Libby until he exhausts the appeals process — a timetable that is all but certain to lead to significant prison time for the former top aide to Vice President Cheney.

U.S. District Court Judge Reggie Walton yesterday ordered Libby to start serving his 30-month sentence in a matter of weeks. Libby’s appeal will presumably take months if not years.

Libby can avoid prison time only if one of two things happens soon: A special panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit overrules Walton and allows Libby to remain free pending appeal; or Bush goes back on his word and grants a pardon while the appeal is still pending. Both are highly unlikely.

White House officials yesterday amplified earlier assertions that Bush is holding off on any action for the foreseeable future.

“Scooter Libby still has the right to appeal, and therefore the president will continue not to intervene in the judicial process,” said White House spokeswoman Dana M. Perino. “The president feels terribly for Scooter, his wife and their young children, and all that they’re going through.”

Here’s Tony Snow, asked about a pardon at his press briefing yesterday: “What the President has said is ‘Let the legal process work itself out.’ We’re just not engaging in that right now.”

Here’s White House counselor Dan Bartlett, asked about a pardon on CNN yesterday: “It is important that the appeals process be able to be exhausted. Scooter and his team [are] going through that right now. And we’ll reserve judgment until those appeals are exhausted.”

The White House position must be a bit sobering for Libby’s ardent defenders — including those in the vice president’s office . Their belief that Libby was railroaded is evidently not shared by at least some people at the highest levels of the White House.