NO HEADLINE

“When it comes to the law, there should not be two sets of rules – one for President Bush and Vice President Cheney and another for the rest of America. Even Paris Hilton had to go to jail. No one in this administration should be above the law.”

Sen. Dick Durbin

Democrat of Illinois

“While for a long time I have urged a pardon for Scooter, I respect the president’s decision. This will allow a good American, who has done a lot for his country, to resume his life.”

Ex-Sen. Fred Thompson

Tennessee Republican

“Accountability has been in short supply in the Bush administration, and this commutation fits that pattern.”

Sen. Patrick Leahy

Democrat of Vermont

“President Bush did the right thing today in commuting the prison term for Scooter Libby. The prison sentence was overly harsh and the punishment did not fit the crime.”

Rep. Roy Blunt

GOP Whip of Missouri

“This is exactly the kind of politics we must change so we can begin restoring the American people’s faith in a government that puts the country’s progress ahead of the bitter partisanship of recent years.”

Sen. Barack Obama

Democrat of Illinois

“Only a president clinically incapable of understanding that mistakes have consequences could take the action he did today. President Bush has just sent exactly the wrong signal to the country and the world.”

Ex-Sen. John Edwards

Democrat of North Carolina

“The Constitution gives President Bush the power to commute sentences, but history will judge him harshly for using that power to benefit his own vice president’s chief of staff who was convicted of such a serious violation of law.”

Sen. Harry Reid

Majority leader of Nevada

“The president said he would hold accountable anyone involved in the Valerie Plame leak case. By his action today, the president shows his word is not to be believed.”

Rep. Nancy Pelosi

House speaker of California

“By commuting Scooter Libby’s sentence, the president continues to abdicate responsibility for the actions of his administration. The only ones paying the price for this administration’s actions are the American people.”

Sen. Chris Dodd

Democrat of Connecticut

“The arrogance of this administration’s disdain for the law and its belief it operates with impunity are breathtaking. Will the president also commute the sentences of others who obstructed justice and lied to grand juries, or only those who act to protect President Bush and Vice President Cheney?”

Gov. Bill Richardson

Democrat of New Mexico