Democrats and Republicans did their best this week to draw distinctions between Bill Clinton’s pardon of fugitive financier Marc Rich and George Bush’s commutation of Lewis Libby’s prison sentence.

“I think there are guidelines for what happens when somebody is convicted,” Clinton said in a radio interview Tuesday. “You’ve got to understand, this is consistent with their philosophy; they believe that they should be able to do what they want to do, and that the law is a minor obstacle.”

Don’t cry for Gen. Peter Pace. Or, Adm. Ed Giambastiani.

When they soon leave as chairman and vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, they will likely have ample opportunity to make big money in the private sector.

The long-standing rivalry between Henry Kravis and Stephen A. Schwarzman has reached the IPO front.

Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts announced plans yesterday to go public, a path recently taken by Schwarzman’s Blackstone Group.

As with Blackstone, the KKR offering calls for the power to remain in the hands of the managing partners. Henry Kravis and George Roberts will retain 75% of the class A shares.

I. Lewis Libby Jr., convicted of perjury in the CIA leak case, appreciates better than most the importance of muckety.

His 30-month prison sentence was commuted yesterday by President Bush, who said he believed the term was excessive. Bush’s action was hailed by conservatives, who had organized a defense fund called the Libby Legal Defense Trust. Likely presidential candidate Fred Thompson was among the fundraisers.

Fred Thompson, who is fashioning himself as the folksy, outside-the-beltway candidate for president, is coming under increasing scrutiny for his family’s lobbying activities.

Before being elected to the Senate, Thompson was a lawyer-lobbyist whose clients included the deposed government of Haiti, the Teamsters Union pension fund and Westinghouse. He resumed his dual careers as lobbyist and TV actor after leaving the Senate in 2003.

Thompson’s lobbying disclosure reports, filed with Congress, show that he received $360,000 in fees between 2004 and 2006. His client was Equitas Ltd., a British reinsurance company that handles asbestos liability for Lloyd’s of London.