FACTBOX: U.S. editorial reaction to Bush clemency for Libby

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Following is editorial reaction in U.S. newspapers on Tuesday to President George W. Bush sparing former White House aide Lewis "Scooter" Libby from a 2-1/2 year prison sentence for obstructing a CIA leak probe.

Democrats accused Bush of abusing power in a case that has fueled debate over the Iraq war. Conservatives in Bush's Republican party had pressured him to pardon Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff.

NEW YORK TIMES

"When he was running for president, George W. Bush loved to contrast his law-abiding morality with that of President Clinton, who was charged with perjury and acquitted."

"For Mr. Bush, the president ... untarnished ideals are less of a priority than protecting the secrets of his inner circle and mollifying the tiny slice of right-wing Americans left in his political base."

"He has repeatedly put himself and those on his team, especially Mr. Cheney, above the law."

WASHINGTON POST

"There were mitigating factors in this case. After two years of investigation, special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald charged no one with a crime for leaking (CIA operative Valerie) Plame's name."

"It's true that the felony conviction that remains in place, the $250,000 fine and the reputational damage are far from trivial. But so is lying to a grand jury. To commute the entire prison sentence sends the wrong message about the seriousness of that offense."

NEW YORK POST

"Now the president should go all the way -- and grant Libby a full pardon ... It would be the right thing to do, because Libby was the victim of an out-of-control prosecutor."

WALL STREET JOURNAL

"By failing to issue a full pardon, Mr. Bush is evading responsibility for the role his administration played in letting the Plame affair build into fiasco and, ultimately, this personal tragedy."

"Mr. Bush's commutation statement yesterday is another profile in non-courage ... Mr. Libby deserved better from the president whose policies he tried to defend when others were running for cover."

MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL

"In the six years that George W. Bush was governor of Texas, 150 men and two women were executed by the state. In each case, Bush got a so-called clemency memo. He allowed all but one of the executions to proceed.