Who Will Bush Pardon?
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.
Weak
The Democrats are fucking weak. There is no other word in the English language that can describe them any better. Bush is so unpopular and out of control that it is shocking, yet the Democrats have done nothing to check the presidents belligerent power grab.
They certainly have talked a big game. Last year, in the run up to the elections, the future Speaker of the House let the country know what Democrats would do once they had control of Congress.
Pelosi was asked what was most important about regaining majority status. "Subpoena power," she said.
Fuck yeah! Subpoenas! Hows that going?
Well, back in early July, the House Judiciary Committee was investigating the US Attorney scandal. Bushs ex-White House legal advisor, Harriet Miers, blew off a Congressional subpoena. She didnt come and take the fifth. She didnt come and claim she had executive privilege. She just decided not to show up because the president, her former employer, did not want her to. So, Harriet Miers BLEW IT OFF.
Chief of staff Josh Bolten refused to hand over White House documents to the House Judiciary Committee. He claimed executive privilege and told the Democrats to shove their oversight up their assholes.
The House Judiciary Committee gave both a couple of days, and then took action.
House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday formally recommended criminal contempt charges against former White House counsel Harriet Miers and chief of staff Joshua Bolten for their failure to comply with an investigation into the firing of eight US Attorneys.
Take that, you motherfuckers! The Democrats just recommended that something happen. You so in trouble!
Following the recommendation, the entire House would have to vote on whether or not to hold Miers and Bolton in contempt. If the House voted in favor of the recommendation, the case would then be sent to the US Attorney in DC. But, the Democrats did not take any action before the summer recess. Now they are back and
well, they are Democrats.
The Democratic leadership is unlikely to push for a full vote in the House until late September at the earliest. The reason, is that Democrats haven't yet "briefed lawmakers on what it would mean and how the controversy would play out, both legally and politically":
I dont think anything is going to happen on that for a while, said House Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel. When you decide to do that, you have to make your best case. You want everyone to understand whats happening and why.
Emanuel said Pelosi and other top Democrats have not begun those consultations yet and he was unsure when they would.
This should have been sent to the entire House for a vote in July. The President is setting a dangerous precedent for the future. If this goes unchecked, the balance of power in our government will forever be unequal. But, take your time Democrats. If you keep delaying, hopefully this can drag on until the President leaves office. And then you wont have to actually stand up and fight for anything. Hell, maybe Bush can give you his spine as he vacates the White House.
One thing is for sure, if the case was reversed, the Republicans would have already sent the offending Democrats to the guillotine.