Sen. Hillary Clinton, pictured above during a Las Vegas visit last month, looked a lot better than former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani did, below, in a candid moment with The Donald. Photos by Craig L. Moran.

No matter what part of the political yard you prefer to play in, the conviction of Lewis "Scooter" Libby on counts of perjury, obstruction of justice and making false statements to authorities ought to scare the daylights out of you.

Initially, the federal government set out to investigate the potential criminal "outing" of CIA operative Valerie Plame. But it quickly became clear that Plame was not very covert. Just about everyone inside the Beltway knew she worked for the CIA. The guy who did, in fact, leak Plame's name was former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, but he will not be charged. Hence, in this bizarre chain of events, the "crime" -- and the known perpetrator of the "crime" -- slip into prosecutorial nothingness.

Meanwhile, in the course of establishing the nothingness of this investigation, Libby said some things to investigators and to a grand jury that were untrue. He claimed poor memory caused those untruths.

Like a parked car rolling downhill, the probe picked up speed and, to carry through with the analogy, the runaway car hit a parked car owned by Libby, a classic schmoe, because who gets cited for the crash?

Libby.

He was prosecuted for lying to federal investigators and, shockingly, last week was convicted.

It is head-spinning to think that Libby could go to prison for a very long time for this.

Now look, I don't want anyone to get the wrong idea. Lying to investigators and giving misleading testimony in front of a federal grand jury -- or any court of law -- is serious stuff. But no one -- no one -- has total recall. The net effect of this, I'm afraid, is that anyone called before a federal inquisitor might be better off taking the Fifth rather than trying hard to cooperate, recollect and reconstruct what they might have done or said on a Sunday afternoon six years ago.

As I see it, that will be the chilling legacy of the Libby "conviction." And that, instead of causing joy in half the political yard, ought to give everyone the shivers.

Is Bill behaving?

Last week's column exploring the David Geffen observation that Bill Clinton still exhibits reckless sexual behavior sparked much colorful response. It was about evenly divided.

One pro-Clinton reader said I should "stop worrying" about where Bill puts his ... uhhh ... well, let's just substitute the word "attention" and call it a sentence. Bill was the best American president since Roosevelt.

Meanwhile, the anti-Bill response ran something like this: Bill "was" "is" and "will be" on the prowl. That's what sexual predators do. Don't let him take the sorority on an overnight trip.

There's no middle ground where the Clintons are concerned, apparently.

'American Idol'

After so far managing to avoid the hit TV show "American Idol," pop culture caught up to me in 2007. I'm watching it this season, but I thank the maker of all that is good and right that I am able to do so with a recording device. Without it, I don't think I could bear it.

By recording "American Idol," I'm not only able to speed through the commercials, I can fast-forward through uninteresting contestants and the repetitive comments of the judges. Once you know the predictable format of the show, you can turn a two-hour ordeal into a pretty darn interesting 30-minute show.

Great picture

One of the better pictures I've seen of Hillary Clinton was taken by Review-Journal photographer Craig L. Moran on Feb. 21 during a Las Vegas visit. She looked confident and, well, positively radiant. The more she looks like this when facing voters, the better off she'll be.

Now for a real test: Let's see if our photographers can snap a really good shot of Rudy Giuliani, like the one at right.

Winston Bush

Anyone who reads this column regularly in the newsprint version of the Review-Journal (and recent scientific surveys shows there are about 120,000 of you, thank you very much) knows that I don't have much good to say about the communication skills of our president. The camera is not his friend. In fact, I cringe just about every time I see George W. Bush on television.

So I thought I'd take matters into my own hands. Here's the kind of speech President Bush should consider giving on the war on terrorism. You, of course, will recognize this as a takeoff on a Winston Churchill speech. Wouldn't it be nice to hear the president say:

"My fellow Americans: I have, myself, full confidence that if all do their duty, if nothing is neglected, and if the best arrangements are made, as they are being made, we shall prove ourselves once again able to defend democracy and freedom, to ride out the storm of war, and to outlive the menace of terrorism, if necessary for years, if necessary alone.

"Even though parts of the world have fallen into the grip of terrorists and all the odious apparatus of terror rule, we shall not flag or fail.

"We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in Iraq, we shall fight in Afghanistan, and we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength. We shall defend our way of life, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, the free world or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then good people everywhere would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, the freedom-loving world, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue."

Oh, baby. Whatever happened to that kind of speech-a-fyin'?

Thanks, nurses

This winter I spent one night each at MountainView Hospital and Valley Hospital following a couple of quick heart procedures. (Before age 50, we call them "surgeries." After 50, we call them "procedures.")

I tell you that to prove I do, indeed, have a heart (they even took pictures), and, more importantly, to say "thank you" to the nurses in both hospitals who made my stays as comfortable as possible. A lot of things make a good hospital, and I'm sure I don't know what they all are. But I do know that, from a patient's perspective, a key to a good hospital is the competency and compassion of the nursing staff.

So, if I may take a point of personal privilege this morning, let me say "thank you, nurses." I'm grateful for the excellent care. I'm sure I speak for a lot of people.

Sherman Frederick is publisher of the Las Vegas Review-Journal and president of Stephens Media. Readers may write him at sfrederick@reviewjournal.com.