A Pardon For Libby?

Could it be? Is it possible that as Lewis Libby was exiting the White House, he received an assurance, either in the form of a wink and a nod, or in a special "inner circle" handshake, or some Rovian backroom deal, that, should he be convicted, President Bush would pardon him of all his crimes?

It certainly would save the White House a lot of worries. First, it would undoubtedly guarantee that Libby would not spill the beans on the rest of the cabal who engineered the Iraqi war in the first place based on all sorts of lies -- and might that include not just Karl Rove, but the Vice-President, and maybe the big enchilada himself? Second, it would erase an inky stain from the Bush presidency, almost the way Reagan's Iran-Contra affair disappeared into the mists of the past once all those convicted conspirators got pardons from George Bush's father. Third, it would be one of those "in your face" acts so cherished by this president against all of his perceived enemies -- the media, the liberals, the anti-war critics, the Scowcrofts in his own party, and all those voters who opposed him in 2004. Just wondering...