What Was Bush Thinking?

Dana Milbank writes in Wednesday's Washington Post: "Lewis Carroll had nothing on the Bush White House of 2007.

"The president and his aides have been trending toward the margins of reality for some time now, but with this week's commutation of Scooter Libby's prison term, the administration's statements dissolved into nonsense.

"President Bush, fielding questions yesterday after visiting wounded soldiers at Walter Reed, declared that 'the jury verdict should stand' -- and then, in answer to the same question, said he was open to vacating the verdict by granting Libby a full pardon.

"Logic suffered a more serious challenge when Bush press secretary Tony Snow, in his briefing, made the following points about Libby's case:

"· That Bush wasn't 'granting a favor to anyone' but that the case got his 'special handling.'

"· That it was not done for 'political reasons' even though 'it was political.'

"· That it was handled 'in a routine manner,' yet it was also 'an extraordinary case.'

"· That 'we are not going to make comments' on the case, even though Bush had already issued a 655-word statement commenting on the case."

Kenneth R. Bazinet writes in the New York Daily News: "It took White House mouthpiece Tony Snow 40 minutes and four explanations to say Vice President Cheney both did and didn't have a role in letting former top aide Lewis (Scooter) Libby skate without going to prison. . . .

"'I'm sure that the vice president may have expressed an opinion ... and he may have recused himself; I honestly don't know,' zigzagged Snow."

Here's the transcript of Tuesday's ludicrous briefing.

Asked why Rove was still working at the White House despite Bush's claim that any leakers would be fired, Snow suggested vaguely that Rove's role was still somehow the subject of further investigation. Would that it were so.