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The whole bru-ha-ha regarding Scooter’s commutation has a rank odor and let me tell you why.
All Presidents abuse the commutation and pardoning privilege..every last stinking one of them. They use that huge authority to take care of a large party contributor, or an old personal friend or a political crony. Its not news when this happens unless it happens like Scooters did.
Historically, pardons occur at the end of a term. That way it can’t be political fodder to be used against the offending President. Makes sense right? Bush is technically toast at this point in his ‘storied’ career as President of these United States, plus he plain doesn’t give a rat’s ass what anyone outside his little sphere think of him or what he does.
Federal officials have also stated that the Libby commutation marked the only time that the president has sidestepped the normal Justice Department review process on pardons and commutations. Another telling thing for me is that Georgie, through his minion Tony Snowjob, stretched the truth quite a bit when Tony said this: "But on the other hand, the president did consult with most senior officials, and I'm sure that everybody had an opportunity to share their views."-King George did NOT consult the Justice Department’s Office of Pardon Attorney my dear reader..so in other words..he failed to follow protocol among other transgressions and freaking lied about it.
The rightwingers have been hot and heavy on this topic since the day it went down. One thing that pisses me off is that they use the Clinton pardons as a basis for their rationale for supporting Georgie’s pardon of Scooter the lying bag of sheepshit. Sorry, that was an editorial comment on Scooters character..but I digress. They are pointing out the pardon of Marc Rich and his wife as evidence that Billy did the same damn thing.. but there are differences they fail to note such as:
Marc Rich’s actions weren’t a security breach. Outing Plame and then lying about it represented a breach in National Security no matter how you slice or dice it. All our covert or secret CIA folks probably shook in their very expensive shoes when Plame was outed, as well they should have. It was also a political move and that’s wrong on many levels. Trying to silence your critics is one thing..screwing with the lives of people and the security of your most secret department in the federal government is entirely another.
Bush has showed nothing but contempt for the principles of justice in our country since he took office. The list is long and I will not bore you with a rehash of them all..you, as an intelligent individual, are well aware of them my dear reader. Most conservatives use a basic standard approach to law and order. We aren’t talking neocons here people. The true conservative loves tougher sentences, mandatory-minimums, and harsh punishment for those found to have broken U.S. law. They applaud justice no matter whose tit gets caught in the wringer if a law is broken, no matter how basic or victimless the crime is..like illegal aliens for an example.
So the real conservatives heart the hell out of the commutation, because Scooter is still a friggin felon, still has to pay his fines and still being punished. I call bullshit on that right here and now. Bush still has left the Pardon aspect on the table..which he will probably do at the end of his term. I want to hear all those conservatives squeal when THAT happens. Also, it should be noted that Scooter won’t be paying those fines..his well-connected “Free Scooter Libby” friends, of which Fred Thompson is the leader of the pack, that have contributed to his defense fund will have that honor.
Since when is King George and his cronies the last word on of the rule of law and grasping it’s meaning? These guys will twist and spin everything until your head is spinning and your dizzy from trying to follow their logic. Georgie had the nads to say he thought long and hard about it, and that it was unjust. Oh fuck you nimrod..you waited until an hour after the appeals court unanimously decreed Scooter should see the inside of a jail cell to pull this rabbit out of your ten-gallon hat.
It’s going to be chewed on for weeks to come possibly. BushCo tired to bury it on a holiday week but this is a biggie and I don’t care if you announced it during a black-out of the entire East Coast..people are noticing the stench to it.
The totals for all modern Presidents and their nasty, smelly, little pardons is as follows:
By comparison, his father, former President George H.W. Bush, granted 74 in four years; former President Bill Clinton granted 396 in eight years; former President Ronald Reagan did 393 in eight; former President Jimmy Carter did 534 in four. And former President Richard Nixon, who got one of Mr. Ford's 382 pardons, granted 863.
So, as far as I am concerned..in the flame wars of who pardoned who and who is the smarmiest President in all the land of pardons..Jimmy Carter leads the Dems and Nixon leads them ALL!
So Nixon wins hands down in this contest..it IS a contest right?
Cross-posted at The Blue RepublicTags: Politics, Bush, Scooter Libby, Commutations, Federal Fuckwits at the Helm
