Bush and NWA.

From Left Coaster:

Bush's action in commuting the sentence for Libby was par for the course for a right-wing authoritarian (RWA). (Bet we know who told him to do it.)

Here's what Robert Altemeyer says is one of the distinguishing characteristists (pdf) of a high RWA:

In fact they’d send just about anyone to jail for a longer time than most people would, from those who spit on the sidewalk to rapists. However, ... authoritarian followers usually would go easy on authorities who commit crimes, and they similarly make allowances for someone who attacks a victim the authoritarian is prejudiced against.
High RWAs believe in extremely harsh punishment, except in regards to people they hold up as part of the righteous authorities. As long as Bush is in control, you will not see anyone in his administration held accountable for crimes he or Cheney ordered.

And here is an excerpt from the pdf file:


Who Are the Authoritarian Followers?

Because this book is called The Authoritarians, you may have thought it dealt
with autocrats and despots, the kind of people who would rule their country, or
department, or football team like a dictator. That is one meaning of the word, and yes,
we shall talk about such people eventually in this book. But we shall begin with a
second kind of authoritarian: someone who, because of his personality, submits by
leaps and bows to his authorities. It may seem strange, but this is the authoritarian
personality that psychology has studied the most.