Romney On Libby

He backs the president's special treatment for his friend. He thinks it was "reasonable." His own record on pardons and commutations is relevant context:

As governor, Romney twice rejected a pardon for Anthony Circosta, who at age 13 was convicted of assault for shooting another boy in the arm with a BB gun - a shot that didn't break the skin. Circosta worked his way through college, joined the Army National Guard and led a platoon of 20 soldiers in Iraq's deadly Sunni triangle.

In 2005, as he was serving in Iraq, he sought a pardon to fulfill his dream of becoming a police officer.

In his presidential bid, Romney often proudly points out that he was the first governor in modern Massachusetts history to deny every request for a pardon or commutation during his four years in office. He says he refused pardons because he didn't want to overturn a jury.

During the four years Romney was in office, 100 requests for commutations and 172 requests for pardons were filed in the state. All were denied.

But none were friends, were they? This basic violation of equal justice is at least transparent. It reveals the hypocrisy like an x-ray. Not that in Romney's case, the rank opportunism was ever in any doubt.