George W. Bush and the Presidential Pardons

Posted by Tom Degan, The Rant at 6:03 AM on November 20, 2008.

No, it's not a new punk band.

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One of the latest Washington parlor Games seems to be spectating as to whether or not Bush will grant a full pardon to convicted felon Scooter Libby before his administration mercifully comes to an end two months from tomorrow. I say "seems to be" because, trust me, I am not nor have I ever been a member of the Washington Beltway, cocktail party circuit - in good standing or otherwise. All of the info you read in this site I receive second or third hand. Truth be told, I have not even set foot in the District of Columbia since April of 2000.

Recently, however, the Princes and Princesses of D.C. are starting to ask a somewhat different question:

Is the First Fool going to issue a blanket pardon for all of the criminals in this disgusting administration who have committed crimes against the American people in general and humaity in particular?

Expect a major Constitutional crisis between now and January 20. In the months following the dawn of the 110th Congress in January of 2007, I couldn't understand why the special prosecutors weren't forthcoming. What the hell is the matter with these stupid Democrats? Can't they see that this is the most murderously criminal administration in American history? Are these nitwits blind? Are they part of the conspiracy? What gives?

Then in early July, I was finally able to figure it out the reason behind the Dem's hesitancy. The moment Dick Cheney's chief-of-staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice, Bush commuted his sentence. What's the sense of prosecuting these homicidal clowns for anything if the asshole in the Oval Office is simply going to render their convictions invalid?

The plan, I am sure, is to wait until Bush is out of office, then initiate the prosecutions. As I predicted on this very site almost two years ago, Bush would initiate a blanket pardon in the early hours of Christmas Eve "in the spirit of this glorious holiday season" much like his father did in the case of Casper Weinberger and everyone else convicted of crimes committed in the Iran Contra affair.

Here's Bush's problem: No one in his administration has been convicted of or even charged with anything. A president cannot merely pardon someone in anticipation of an indictment, right? Right??? Of course he can't. Explain that, though, to the knuckleheads within the GOP who issue the talking points. You see, the idea is subtly being put forth that, not only can a president pardon anybody for anything - indicted or not - he even has the legal ability to vindicate himself.

Beg Pardon??? (No pun intended).

Is he really going to attempt something as hideously arrogant as that? Are you kidding me? This is George W. Bush we're talkin' about here! Of course he's going to attempt it. It would be uncharacteristic for him not to try it. At the very least, he's thinking about it - COUNT ON IT.

Consider this: Do you think that the Founding Fathers gave the chief executive the power of the pardon in order that he or she would be able to conduct a criminal enterprise for four long years - and even longer - and then have the ability to walk away from their crimes scott free? If that were the case, why in the hell did they give the Congress the power of impeachment in case of presidential "high crimes and misdemeanors"? What earthly sense would that have made?

As the late, lamented Molly Ivins once observed, the founders of this country were "just about the smartest sons-of-bitches that ever lived". No article in the Bill of Rights and Constitution was meant to be self-defeating - of that you may be sure. If Bush attempts to do what I think he's going to do, the proverbial shit is going to hit the Constitutional fan.

If a president had the legal right to pardon himself, why didn't it ever cross the mind of Rhoades Scholar Bill Clinton when he was charged with the "high crime" of lying about a fling with a half-witted intern? Why didn't President Andrew Johnson consider it when he was impeached in 1869? Because to have attempted as much would have been considered arrogant and laughable. In 1974, Dick Nixon and company considered this very maneuver - for about two minutes. Say what you want about the Nixon Gang, they may have been a bunch of arrogant thugs, but they were also a fairly intelligent bunch. As soon as the idea floated by, it was immediately dismissed as ludicrous. That's the funny thing about Dick Nixon. Say what you want about the hideous old bastard, compared to George W. Bush, he's starting to look like Thomas Jefferson. No, it just doesn't any stranger than that.

If our commander-in-disguise attempts to let himself off the hook via the dubious means of a self-pardon, how would the Supreme Court rule on something as extraordinary as that? How would they rule on the subject of a mass pardon of people for crimes that are not even named? My prediction would be seven to two, with Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia being the only two holdouts. Seriously, you don't think that those two could possibly render any intelligent judgment, do you?

America is about to come to the end of the most criminal administration in our history. We cannot allow these people to escape the justice that is their due. What would it say if Bush pardons everyone for the torture that took place under his watch at Guantanamo Bay? It would say that he knew what was going on there was illegal all along! He would be virtually declaring himself a war criminal!

Think about this for a minute or two: How is it going to look if this disgusting little guttersnipe is able to say, "Yes, I tortured; Yes, I committed war crimes; Yes, I looted our national treasure; Yes, I my Justice Department conducted political persecutions under my orders; Yes, I authorized warrantless wiretaps in direct violation of the written law; Yes, I lied this nation into an unnecessary war; Yes, I did all of those things and then some. But guess what? I pardon myself. I'm innocent! TAG, YOU'RE IT! NYAH! NYAH!"

If we allow him and the people around him to walk away from the carnage they have created, then justice in this doomed country will forever be rendered a farce. Never again will any of us be able to say with a straight face that we are truly a nation of laws and not men. These people have committed serious crimes against humanity - not only in this country but abroad. In 2003, they presented the Congress with falsified evidence that led this country into committing the stupidest military blunder in our history. As a result, as many as one million Iraqi men, women and little children are dead. Almost five thousand American kids now rest in cemeteries all across the land. That, my friends, is a crime of the worst order. The perpetrators of that crime need to be punished - severely. We have no other choice. Justice denied is justice mocked.

We'd all be better off just handing him over to the Hague. Let them deal with him. We would be able to avoid the partisan earthquake that would certainly come with the criminal prosecution of George W. Bush, Dick Chaney and the tsunami of human incompetence that comprises this nightmare of an administration. Also, they would surely be able to avoid the death penalty - something I vehemently oppose. They would be able to spend the rest of their miserable lives contemplating their sins. Sounds like a plan!

Gosh! I'm sure gonna miss George W. Bush. Aren't you? He certainly has provided us with gales of unintentional laughter these many years, has he not? More than one person has asked me, "What are you going to rant about when he's gone?" Good question. Fortunately for me, the Republicans won't be going a way any time soon. Fortunately for me, those idiotic Democrats are way far from perfect. Yeah, as America heads into the post-Bush era, I'll have plenty to "rant" about, thanks just the same. But I will tell you this: If America survives into the turning of the next millennium, It'll never again get as good as George W. Bush. Don't hold your breath. It just won't get that weird again. Then again, I said the same thing when Reagan left office.

Never mind.

Tom Degan

Goshen, NY

tomdegan@frontiernet.net

Tagged as: bush, pardons, final days

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