Nov

When it comes to pardons and impeachment, this one’s a turkey

Posted by: Wordsmith @ 11:07 am in Bush Derangement Syndrome, Immigration, Moonbats, Pelosi, Politics, The Iraqi War | 0 views

Rochelle Riley writing for Free Press:

Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s ineffectiveness became clear the day she became Speaker of the House and immediately announced that there would be no impeachment proceedings against President George W. Bush or Vice President Dick Cheney.

Guided by politics, she said leading investigations into just how much the Bush administration did – and did wrong – would be divisive. What she didn’t express was her worry that too many Democrats faced elimination from the House if they took on the difficult task of proving who knew what, when.

But Congress is running out of time to finally make the Bush administration own up to its actions for eight years. If Congress isn’t careful, the president who already has issued 171 pardons could also pardon every appointee and employee he has ever had – and their dogs.

President Bush has issued half the number of pardons that Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton did in their two terms.

I know the two individuals who many of us conservatives want to see pardoned: Border Patrol Agents Jose Compean and Ignacio Ramos.

Didn’t they recently get resentenced? If a president interferes during a judicial process, I believe that would be grounds for impeachment. He could still issue a commutation of sentence or pardon within the next two months. I think where the two agents were wrong, was in covering up the shooting. If others can get pardoned for crimes outside the interest of the U.S., I don’t see why these two shouldn’t get pardoned as well for committing “crimes” in the interest of the U.S.

From what I hear, the case for commutation is being considered by the DOJ’s Pardon Attorney.

Recently:

Q I just want to ask regarding the two border agents — that was in the news again last week. Now that the President is ending his term — calls are renewed for a pardon or a commutation. Is there anything on that you –

MS. PERINO: We never comment on pardons. People who are eligible to apply for a pardon can do so through the pardon attorney at the Department of Justice. And we don’t comment on the deliberations that are underway.

The most outrageous Bush pardon of all:

President George W. Bush gathers with children and National Turkey Federation officials as he pardons “Pumpkin”, the 2008 Thanksgiving turkey, during a ceremony in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington November 26, 2008.
REUTERS/Jason Reed

AP writer, Deb Riechmann:

One hot topic of discussion related to pardons is whether Bush might decide to issue pre-emptive pardons before he leaves office to government employees who authorized or engaged in harsh interrogations of suspected terrorists in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Some constitutional scholars and human rights groups want the incoming administration of President-elect Barack Obama to investigate possible war crimes.

If Bush were to pardon anyone involved, it would provide protection against criminal charges, particularly for people who were following orders or trying to protect the nation with their actions. But it would also be highly controversial.

At the same time, Obama advisers say there is little — if any — chance that his administration would bring criminal charges.

This blogger says Bush can simply pardon Cheney (and everyone else) and immediately resign. Cheney becomes president and pardons him, perfectly legal!:

Just as important is making sure he is held accountable for his destruction and can not pardon himself and his cronies! From Democrats.com…: As we celebrate our new President-elect and all the changes he will bring to our nation, we must not turn a blind eye to the final actions of George Bush. Incredibly, Washington is already buzzing with Bush’s plans to block all investigations of his crimes and even to pardon everyone involved - including Cheney and himself. Chris Matthews is even counting down the days .

Does Bush have the power to pardon everyone in his administration? Yes. Will he abuse that power to stay out of jail? Only if we let him. “you bet he will if he can find a way” We must create a groundswell of opposition to any pardons by George Bush, so he understands that he will be impeached and prosecuted for issuing corrupt pardons.

~~~
it is my guess that Obama and virtually every Democrat in Congress is secretly praying for Bush to “self-pardon” himself. Not because they wish him to escape justice, but because they don’t want the politically dangerous, nationally divisive, and ultimately thankless task of having to administer it. If Bush pardons himself, or gets Cheney to pardon him, he will let the Democrats off the hook, freeing them from the growing importuning of millions of Americans whose rage at Bush and Cheney will only grow greater as more and more insiders come forward to reveal the truth. My only question is — why is no one even discussing this? Bush can Pardon Cheney then Cheney can pardon Bush

One of the more outrageous nutters is Vincent Bugliosi, author of The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder. Here’s how he perceives his own self-worth on objectivity and credibility:

With respect to the position I take about the crimes of George Bush, I want to state at the outset that my motivation is not political. Although I’ve been a longtime Democrat (primarily because, unless there is some very compelling reason to be otherwise, I am always for “the little guy”), my political orientation is not rigid. For instance, I supported John McCain’s run for the presidency in 2000. More to the point, whether I’m giving a final summation to the jury or writing one of my true crime books, credibility has always meant everything to me. Therefore, my only master and my only mistress are the facts and objectivity. I have no others. This is why I can give you, the reader, a 100 percent guarantee that if a Democratic president had done what Bush did, I would be writing the same, identical piece you are about to read.

Read the whole thing for a peek into the afflicted mind of a BDS sufferer.

The real reason why there won’t be any impeachment, is because there isn’t a leg for the movement to stand on. The big lie is that Bush lied.

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13 comments so far

Mike's America

Now now Wordsmith… you’ve gone too far. This latest post is clearly intended to provoke the Obamaton Bush haters into another paroxysm of rage. And you know those turkeys (the Obamatons) can get pretty irate as it is.

Should we really be baiting them so overtly at Thanksgiving?

November 26th, 2008 at 11:47 am

Wordsmith

Moi? Provocateur?

Just trying to generate some traffic, Mike. Thought maybe you’d care to roast some Thanksgiving moonbats.

November 26th, 2008 at 11:49 am

AdrianS

America Wants to Know!
Obama REFUSES to show his ORIGINAL birth certificate. Why?

http://americamustknow.com/default.aspx

SIGN THE PETITION TO FORCE BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA TO PRESENT HIS QUALIFICATIONS.

PETITION FOR PUBLIC RELEASE OF
BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA’S BIRTH CERTIFICATE

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=81550

November 26th, 2008 at 12:03 pm

SBSmith

I want to see Ramos and Compean pardoned, also.

November 26th, 2008 at 12:33 pm

Rocky_B

What misguided fools these people are. There’s nothing they can do to block presidential pardons, as we knew when Clinton pardoned FALN.

The notion that they are running out of time to convict Bush for murder for acting properly in his capacity as CoC is equally idiotic. There is a minor problem with this called “Executive privileges and limited immunities” which I’m sure the Obama will utilize as if there was no tomorrow. I’m sure they wouldn’t even blink if Obama pardoned every Gitmo prisoner, al Qaeda terrorist, and emptied our Federal prisons. Hell, Clinton even pardoned his own druggie brother, which reeked of conflict of interest.

Just more sour grapes from “ultra-left haters”. But if they want to blame their own party leaders for being “ineffective”, more power to them.

I also agree with the word-man. If it weren’t for the attempted cover-up, there would be no case against the 2 border guards. They were in the active pursuit of a felon drug-runner who was resisting arrest, trying to flee across the border to avoid prosecution, and whose activities had likely led to uncountable further criminal acts by the ultimate consumers for his illegal wares.

November 26th, 2008 at 12:36 pm

Mike's America

Wordsmith: I already had my turkey this week and frankly the moonbat turkeys that come in here are so tough, stringy and oozing with bile that they don’t even make good compost!

November 26th, 2008 at 12:50 pm

Hard Right

Moonbats taste like poo. Seeing as they are full of it, it should come as no surprise.

Seriously, moonbats are masters of self delusion–as Vincent Bugliosi proves. He actually thinks he’s objective and relying on “facts”. I don’t think he’d know a fact if if landed in his lap and exploded.

As Dr. Sanity and another psychiatrist have pointed out, moonbats are suffereing from pathological denial of reality.

November 26th, 2008 at 12:53 pm

Akela

The extent of punishment for Ramos and Compean rises to days off, or at the very most, termination for lying and falsifying an investigation. This is insanity. If anyone should be doing their time it should be the prosecutor.

November 26th, 2008 at 2:52 pm

Neo

If a president interferes during a judicial process, I believe that would be grounds for impeachment.

Wrong. The whole point of giving the President the power of the pardon was that it was looked upon as a proper tool for a President to put down a revolt by issuing pardons to those involved, etc. .. well before any judicial process ever could take place.

November 26th, 2008 at 4:46 pm

road warrior

Yea the only think the only thing getting a pardon or impeachment will be the turkey. The liberal illuminati need to get over the chants, impeach bush. it’s not going to happen.

November 26th, 2008 at 9:34 pm

Missy

Whenever reading through comments over at Politico, I always got the impression the commentators were liberal, lop-sidedly so with a few conservative comments sprinkled here and there. Now they are in a tizzy over the pardon rumors.

I personally believe there should be no need to pardon these officials. Seven years and no attacks, we need to show some appreciation to those that have been protecting us not trying them for bogus war crimes accusations.

From Politico

Debate ignites over blanket pardons

“One of the country’s best known conservative legal scholars, Steven G. Calabresi, on Wednesday suggested “blanket pardons” for “all officials involved in making decisions bearing on the war on terror.”

Calabresi’s proposal, made in an e-mail posted on Politico’s Arena forum, was roundly denounced by many other commentators in the forum, providing a small taste of the reaction should President George W. Bush actually issue such a pardon. ”

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1108/16024.html

November 27th, 2008 at 5:50 am

unfortunately, the members of the liberal illuminati are so anxious to continue to criticize Bush, that I wonder if he can do any pardons that won’t damage his reputation even further.

November 27th, 2008 at 10:35 am

Wordsmith

Bush facing flood of pardon requests
AP News
Friday, November 28, 2008

Historically stingy with granting pardons, President George W. Bush is facing a flood of requests for get-out-of-jail cards or wiping criminals’ records clean on his way out of the White House.

Junk-bond king Michael Milken, media mogul Conrad Black and American-born Taliban soldier John Walker Lindh are among the more than 2,000 people who have applied to the Justice Department seeking official forgiveness in the form of pardons or sentence commutations.

But with Bush’s term ending Jan. 20, some lawyers are lobbying the White House directly to pardon their clients. That raises the possibility that the president could excuse scores of people, including some who have not been charged, to protect them from future accusations, such as former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales or star baseball pitcher Roger Clemens.

Those who have worked with Bush predict that will not happen. The White House has declined to comment on upcoming pardons.

“I would expect the president’s conservative approach to executive pardons to continue through the remainder of his term,” said Helgi C. Walker, a former Bush associate White House counsel.

“There would also be a concern about avoiding any appearance of impropriety in the waning days of his administration _ i.e. some sort of pardon free-for-all,” Walker said. “I don’t think that is anything that is going to happen on this president’s watch.”

Last week, Bush issued 14 pardons and commuted two sentences _ all for small-time crimes such as minor drug offenses, tax evasion and unauthorized use of food stamps. That brought his eight-year total to 171 pardons and eight commutations granted.

That is less than half as many as President Bill Clinton or President Ronald Reagan issued. Both were two-term presidents, like Bush.

A pardon is an official act of forgiveness that removes civil liabilities stemming from a criminal conviction. A commutation reduces or eliminates a person’s sentence.

One Washington lawyer whose clients are directly pursuing the White House for pardons said Bush is expected to issue two more rounds of pardons: one right before Christmas, as is customary, and one right before he leaves office. The lawyer spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid hurting the clients’ chances.

Such an end-run around the Justice Department, which advises the president on who qualifies for pardons, signals that Bush may be open to forgiving people who are otherwise ineligible to apply.

Only people who have waited five years after their conviction or release from prison can apply for a pardon under the department’s guidelines. Criminals are required to begin serving time, or otherwise exhaust any appeals, before they can be considered for sentence commutation.

The department is considering a pardon application for Milken, who was convicted of securities fraud charges. Two politicians convicted of public corruption _ former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham, R-Calif., and four-term Democratic Louisiana Gov. Edwin W. Edwards _ have applied for shorter prison terms. So has Lindh, convicted of assisting the Taliban, and Black, who is serving time for fraud and obstruction of justice.

Additionally, former U.S. Border Patrol agent Ignacio Ramos is applying to have his prison sentences reduced. Ramos and his colleague, former agent Jose Compean, were convicted of shooting a drug smuggler in 2005 and trying to cover it up.

Justice spokeswoman Laura Sweeney said commutation applications for both Ramos and Compean were rejected in October because their cases were still in court. But Sweeney said Ramos reapplied in November after he was re-sentenced.

Under the Constitution, the president’s power to issue pardons is absolute and cannot be overruled _ meaning he can forgive any one he wants, at any time.

Already, Democrats and other Bush critics are warning the president against getting overly generous with his power of forgiveness. Of particular concern is whether he will issue pre-emptive pardons to protect allies and some government employees from facing future charges for carrying out his policies.

Some of those people could include officials who authorized or engaged in harsh interrogations of suspected terrorists after Sept. 11, 2001. Critics want incoming President-elect Barack Obama to investigate possible war crimes.

Others to be pre-emptively pardoned might include advisers _ Gonzales or other Bush administration lawyers, for example _ who sanctioned potentially illegal policies or lied to Congress about them.

“If President Bush were to pardon key individuals involved in the misdeeds of his administration, from warrantless wiretapping to torture to the firing of U.S. attorneys for political reasons, the courts would be unable to address criminality, or pass judgment on the legality of some of the president’s worst abuses,” Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., wrote in a Nov. 20 op-ed for Salon.com…. “Issuing such pardons now would be particularly egregious, since voters just issued such a strong condemnation of the Bush administration at the ballot box.”

Gonzales’ lawyer, George Terwilliger, said Justice Department investigations have proved its former top boss did nothing wrong.

“As has been made clear from the results of months and months of investigation of Judge Gonzales’ tenure as attorney general, there is no basis to even suggest that a pardon is needed for anything,” Terwilliger said in a statement. “It is time for this to end.”

Clemens is under investigation for his congressional testimony when he denied under oath that he ever used performance-enhancing drugs. Clemens was identified in former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell’s report on drug use in baseball. He has maintained his innocence and filed a defamation lawsuit in January against his former trainer, Brian McNamee, who claims he injected the seven-time Cy Young award winner with steroids and human growth hormone.

Though absolute, the president’s pardon power does not come without risks.

Clinton’s 2001 last-day pardon to fugitive financier Marc Rich tainted Democrats who worked for him _ including then-Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder who is now awaiting Obama’s nomination to run the Justice Department.

Bush’s father, President George H.W. Bush, pardoned Reagan-era Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger, who was indicted in the Iran-Contra arms scandal. Weinberger’s indictment by a special counsel days before the 1992 presidential election is believed to have contributed to Bush’s defeat.

And President Gerald Ford narrowly lost re-election in 1976 after pardoning former President Richard Nixon in the Watergate scandal _ the most controversial pre-emptive pardon in U.S. history.

In his most high-profile official act of forgiveness so far, Bush saved I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby from serving any prison time in the case of the 2003 leak of then-CIA operative Valerie Plame’s identity. Libby was convicted of perjury and obstructing justice.

Libby, who was Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, has not applied for a full pardon, Justice spokeswoman Sweeney said.

Margaret Love, former Justice Department pardon attorney under Clinton, said Bush has never seemed interested in flexing his power to pardon, going back to his days as Texas governor.

“His has been a very sparing, very regular and very conservative use,” Love said. “There’s no reason to think based on the pattern of his grants to date that there are going to be any irregularities or surprises at the end of his term.”