News > Politics > Who Will Bush Pardon?

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FRIDAY NOVEMBER 14 2008 9:30 AM

Who Will Bush Pardon?

Submitted by Stiles

Edited by crispy

Tags: Bush, pardon, Stevens, Clinton, convicted, Rove, Miers, Libby

The Bush presidency is in its waning days - an administration marked by scandals ranging from the firing of US attorneys for political reasons, the Plame fiasco that resulted in the conviction of Scooter Libby, to the Abramoff lobbying disaster that took down former GSA chief of staff Safavian among others.

Now that senator Ted Stevens (R, Alaska) has been convicted of seven felonies and is embroiled in a close race headed for a recount, the question arises - who will the president pardon?

Bush has been relatively parsimonious in exercising the vaunted presidential prerogative to absolve convicted criminals of their sins under the law, issuing only 157 pardons and six commutations of sentences during nearly eight years in office. And the pardons Bush has made have come only after defendants served their full terms, a move that frequently amounts to granting them the power to vote and bear firearms.

In contrast to Clinton issuing 140 pardons on his last day:

... famously forgiving Mark Rich, the husband of a major contributor to his library, as well as friend and former business associate Susan McDougal, former House Ways and Means Chairman Dan Rostenkowski (D-Ill.), and his own brother Roger, who had served time on drug charges.

If Bush decides to roll out the pardons, possible candidates include Stevens, Scooter Libby (whose sentence he commuted but conviction and hefty fine left intact), Safavian, Claude Allen (of Target shoplifting fame), and others.

He might also preemptively pardon anyone involved in Abu Ghraib, Gitmo, and the DOJ scandal (Miers, Rove) who might be convicted in the future, as Ford did with Nixon.

Bush's actions will put a finishing touch on the legacy of his presidency, so it will be interesting to see if he goes out in an uproar of controversy like Clinton did, or chooses to maintain his relatively moderate line of pardons so far.

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Comments

ardour

Ottawa, ON

March 2006

NOV 14, 2008 09:43 AM

Bush has never been one for subtlety.

n8tvegrl

Bend, OR

February 2004

NOV 14, 2008 01:20 PM

Well we know it won't be Leonard Peltier...

X_Racer_X

Philadelphia, PA

July 2008

NOV 14, 2008 01:37 PM

Scooter Libby ?

Jack Abramoff ?

The White House Turkey ?

Dennis Kozlowski? (Tyco)

John and Timothy Rigas ? (Adelphia Cable)

Ramos and Compean ? - (Border patrol agents who shot a drug smuggler illegally crossing the border and got 15 and 20 years a piece )

FreakPirate

Canada

November 2002

NOV 14, 2008 02:07 PM

n8tvegrl said:
Well we know it won't be Leonard Peltier...

Was there a particular reason you thought he was going to? Or thought he should?

Toku666

Columbus, OH

May 2004

NOV 14, 2008 02:22 PM

FreakPirate said:

n8tvegrl said:
Well we know it won't be Leonard Peltier...

Was there a particular reason you thought he was going to? Or thought he should?

Is there some reason you didn't let that one go?

If I've learned one useful thing about Leonard Peltier, it's "don't argue with people about Leonard Peltier."

FreakPirate

Canada

November 2002

NOV 14, 2008 02:27 PM

Toku666 said:

Is there some reason you didn't let that one go?

If I've learned one useful thing about Leonard Peltier, it's "don't argue with people about Leonard Peltier."

Because it didn't seem like there was a particular reason for bringing him up.