Bush won't rule out pardon...C'mon, you saw this coming...

WASHINGTON - President Bush on Tuesday refused to rule out an eventual pardon for former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby.

"As to the future, I rule nothing in and nothing out," the president said a day after commuting Libby's 2 1/2-year prison term in the CIA leak case.

Bush said he had weighed his decision carefully to erase Libby's prison time. He said the jury's conviction of Libby should stand but that the 30-month prison term was too severe.

"I made a judgment, a considered judgment," the president said. "I stand by it." At the same time, he left the door open for the possibility of a pardon later.

Bush spoke to reporters after visiting wounded soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.