Every administration has people that screw up. Some under-secretary at Health and Human Services gets caught sleeping with a 12-year-old hooker, or the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs approves a cruise missile attack on a terrorist hide-out that turns out to be a Wendy's. It's nothing new. People mess up.
The differences is, usually those people suffer SOME kind of consequences. Paul Wolfowitz was the architect of the Iraq invasion (a job that apparently involved a napkin, a couple of crayons, and a set of instructions to the 82nd Airborne to "kinda go North-ish until you get to Baghdad"), and he got to run the World Bank. Brownie was doing a "heck of a job." George Tenet took home the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
And now, Scooter Libby was the product of an over-reaching liberal prosecutor and an activist judge. So he gets to go home and write his memoirs.
Yes, every adminisatration does it. There was that woman who went to to jail for refusing to testify against the Clintons and what did Clinton do...oh wait, he let her serve her sentence. My bad.
I assume "unjustly oppressed" should have been in quotes.
Maybe we should have a debate on the usefulness of retaining the pardon system.
I know Ford was seen as a healer for pardoning Nixon, but I am not so sure history should see it this way. I think it may have served the public for everyone to see that a President wasn't above the law and could be thrown in jail.
True, Clinton issued several questionable pardons and commutations in his last few days in office. In fact, he issued a lot of pardons overall. Clinton pardoned or commuted 456 people, which is about average for a President (FDR had 3687, Nixon 926, Washington 16).
George W. Bush has issued 17 pardons/commutations in 6 1/2 years. That's a pardon every 4 or 5 months. It isn't something he does. But he made an exception because it was Scooter Libby, and because the White House takes care of its own...
Eliminating the pardon system would require a constitutioanal amendment. I still think it is a good thing to have. I just wish presidents would not use it for political purposes.
I agree with Ford's pardoning of Nixon. Any trial of Nixon would have made the OJ trial look speedy. The appeals would have taken years and this would have cost the country millions. Nixon may not have done time, but he left in disgrace and is mostly remembered for Watergate.
I agree that Peltier should receive clemency. He isn't one of Bush's cronies, so I don't expect one from him. I remember there beinf a chance that Clinton would pardon him, but the 'donation' must not have been big enough.
bob, as for that woman who they let serve her sentence, she was pardoned by Clinton just before he left office. Granted, this is not quite the same thing as Scooter, but looking down the list of Clinton pardons (and Bush I) makes me think an amendment to get rid of pardons would be a good thing. For cryin' out loud, Clinton even pardoned his brother's drug conviction!?!?
10 comments:
Thanks for pointing to that post--it is quite perceptive.
Now I have to go drink for the rest of the day.
Every administration has people that screw up. Some under-secretary at Health and Human Services gets caught sleeping with a 12-year-old hooker, or the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs approves a cruise missile attack on a terrorist hide-out that turns out to be a Wendy's. It's nothing new. People mess up.
The differences is, usually those people suffer SOME kind of consequences. Paul Wolfowitz was the architect of the Iraq invasion (a job that apparently involved a napkin, a couple of crayons, and a set of instructions to the 82nd Airborne to "kinda go North-ish until you get to Baghdad"), and he got to run the World Bank. Brownie was doing a "heck of a job." George Tenet took home the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
And now, Scooter Libby was the product of an over-reaching liberal prosecutor and an activist judge. So he gets to go home and write his memoirs.
I need a beer.
Yes, every adminisatration does it. There was that woman who went to to jail for refusing to testify against the Clintons and what did Clinton do...oh wait, he let her serve her sentence. My bad.
Clinton had quite an extensive list of pardons, including the unjustly oppressed Marc Rich.
I assume "unjustly oppressed" should have been in quotes.
Maybe we should have a debate on the usefulness of retaining the pardon system.
I know Ford was seen as a healer for pardoning Nixon, but I am not so sure history should see it this way. I think it may have served the public for everyone to see that a President wasn't above the law and could be thrown in jail.
Oh, one more thing:
Pardon Leonard Peltier!
True, Clinton issued several questionable pardons and commutations in his last few days in office. In fact, he issued a lot of pardons overall. Clinton pardoned or commuted 456 people, which is about average for a President (FDR had 3687, Nixon 926, Washington 16).
George W. Bush has issued 17 pardons/commutations in 6 1/2 years. That's a pardon every 4 or 5 months. It isn't something he does. But he made an exception because it was Scooter Libby, and because the White House takes care of its own...
Eliminating the pardon system would require a constitutioanal amendment. I still think it is a good thing to have. I just wish presidents would not use it for political purposes.
I agree with Ford's pardoning of Nixon. Any trial of Nixon would have made the OJ trial look speedy. The appeals would have taken years and this would have cost the country millions. Nixon may not have done time, but he left in disgrace and is mostly remembered for Watergate.
I agree that Peltier should receive clemency. He isn't one of Bush's cronies, so I don't expect one from him. I remember there beinf a chance that Clinton would pardon him, but the 'donation' must not have been big enough.
bob, as for that woman who they let serve her sentence, she was pardoned by Clinton just before he left office. Granted, this is not quite the same thing as Scooter, but looking down the list of Clinton pardons (and Bush I) makes me think an amendment to get rid of pardons would be a good thing. For cryin' out loud, Clinton even pardoned his brother's drug conviction!?!?
Thanks for the link, Smitty.
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