. . . that he "he agreed with the verdict" but disagreed with the sentence.

Let us take this opportunity to once more ask:

Mr. President, if you agree that Scooter Libby lied under oath and obstructed justice, what is being done to correct those lies and obtain justice?

This has never been asked by a single member of our esteemed 4th estate. He said he agreed with the verdict! He agreed that a member of his administration lied under oath and obstructed justice! Yet he does nothing to right these wrongs.

We must call him on it!

If he wins the appeal, then he could be tried again. If he loses (again) then his new sentence would need to be commuted or carried out. There is a good chance there would be someone else in the oval office by then. So, Libby could actually go to jail if he pressed the case. Regardless of innocence/guilt, libby is making the smart move.

Will the White House press corp actually ask for the While House to come clean about Plamegate?

I think we know the answer to that, too.

Possibly Scooter dropped his appeal because had he won a new trial, there was the clear and present danger that facts would come out in his new trial proving the Oval Office's role in, not only outing Plame, but more importantly its role in trying to keep the latest NIE underwraps for its warmongering efforts. (I believe they are interconnected.)

Also, Libby's commutation would be meaningless and he would again face potential prison time.

does this mean libby gets his $250 g's back? it seems only fair...

Now what happens to all that money in the Libby defense fund?

He has no more legal business hanging, so now the Congress can subpoena him and grant him immunity (he's not going to get punished anyway) to force him to testify.

Like he ever had any...

Appeals aren't difficult on the appellant, and they aren't particularly expensive either.

It doesn't cost much to mount an appeal. In essence it's a 20 page research paper of which at least five pages are pure boilerplate -- and the remainder is a recounting of the facts as they were presented in the trial court (from the trial record), a synopsis of applicable statutory and case law, and their interrelationship a k a "analysis."

A very difficult case with multiple parties, with gray area and/or novel issues might take 100 billable hours. It could also run up, at most, another $2K in costs -- for obtaining documents, copying, printing, binding and court fees.

However, U.S. v. Libby is NOT a difficult case, and should not take more than 60 billable hours -- in which case you're looking at about $60K -- tops. (I'd do it for less than $20K) Not exactly chump change, but from what I understand, the Libby defense fund has more than enough left to cover an conceivable appellate costs. Still, when you consider Libby's been pardoned -- if not exonerated -- there's no sense in wasting the dough on a slam-dunk loser.

"We take care of our own.

Accountability? That's for everyone else."

Note that Libby was not pardoned, but his sentence was commuted. With a full pardon he could be forced to testify with no 5th Amendment protection. Bush's commutation of Libby, though, means that Libby cannot testify against Bush, out of fear of self-incrimination. His not appealing now though, does not mean he has dropped all appeals. If, instead, he were to continue to appeal at some time in the future it would be adjudicated, for or against him, so he then would have to testify. Libby is the loyal soldier, throwing himself on the sword to protect his "superiors."

Furthermore, being a convicted felon is not so bad in the circles in which he will be traveling. It is, after all, a conviction for the higher moral purpose of protecting others' illegality :-)