Dear Dairy:

Commuting a sentence is a very serious undertaking. When I was Governor of Texas, I oversaw 152 executions. Every one of them wanted me to intervene--even that retarded gal--but I refused to even read their petitions for commutation. So no one knows better than me that such action is not to be taken lightly.

Some people thought that letting all those executions proceed was monstrous, but I had to respect the courts' decisions--152 times. But I know a too-severe sentence when I see it, and I have too much Christian compassion in my heart to allow this cruel vengeance to be taken on Scooter Libby. 30 months in one of those minimum-security facilities and he'd never be the same. For one thing, he'd be damn near unbeatable on the golf course.

Critics will call it an Administration obstructing justice and protecting one of its own who has brazenly flouted the rule of law in the service of that Administration. I prefer to call it 'Reaganesque.'

In Judiciousness,
GWB