Impeachment is Back On the Table, Even if Congress Doesn't Know It

This post, written by Larisa Alexandrova, originally appeared on at-Largely

The US public has had to watch an heiress prance out of accountability for her criminal activities and government officials in the Bush administration do the same. Up until now, however, we have not watched the President actually take part in a crime. The crime here is a cover-up of a criminal conspiracy.

I know there are many who would eagerly correct me on the assertion that the President has not engaged in illegal activity, but the facts are not definitive with regard to Bush. It is absolutely clear that the Vice President has engaged in criminal activity, that Alberto Gonzales has, that Karl Rove has, indeed, likely the entire administration might end up indicted when all is said and done. But there has never been enough evidence that pointed directly to the President... that is, until now. While the Presidential pardon is in fact completely legal and left to the discretion of the Executive - the moral and reasonable argument here, however, shows that the pardon is part of an ongoing cover-up of criminal activity.

"Please don't kill me, don't kill me.."

I will not get into the argument of the sentencing guidelines because others, better schooled on the law in question, have already done a superb job in laying out why the President's legal reason for the commutation of Libby's sentence is pure nonsense. I would rather focus on a subset of that reason, the more subtle suggestion, that the President believed Libby's sentence to be too harsh. Let's begin with George W. Bush's compassion for the victims of harsh sentences. From Amnesty International: "The state of Texas executes more people than any other jurisdiction in the Western world. The death toll is astounding: of the 74 executions carried out in the United States of America (USA) during 1997, one-half (37) occurred in Texas, a record number since the reintroduction of the death penalty. Between the resumption of executions in 1977 and the end of 1997, the USA put to death 432 prisoners nationwide, with Texas alone accounting for one-third of the total (144).

In 1997, the Board received 16 applications for clemency in capital cases. Not one of the 18 Board members voted for commutation in any of these cases. In six cases, some Board members failed to vote while one member abstained in 15 of the cases. The Board does not meet the inmate filing the request nor does it meet to discuss a pending application or provide written reasons for rejecting an application." (AI)