‘You’re a Criminal!’

Despite a last-ditch effort by Paul Wolfowitz and others, Scooter Libby got slammed with a 30-month bid. But there’s little doubt that he’ll be pardoned. The only question, as I noted yesterday, is when.

As Bush regime officials mourned Libby’s fate, demonstrators peppered the Cheney aide with taunts of “You’re a criminal!”

But he won’t officially be a criminal for long. According to the betting site intrade.com (which ran a lively exchange during Wolfie’s ouster), the hot action is on Libby’s being pardoned by the end of George W. Bush‘s term. But there’s brisk action on the possibility of his being pardoned by December 2007.

The Bush regime is under considerable pressure, because Judge Reggie B. Walton isn’t expected to let Libby roam the world on bail during the months and months of appeals by his lawyers.

He might be free for only a few more weeks, so expect Dick Cheney and the other caretakers of the Bush regime to drop everything to focus on Libby’s plight.