Author
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Topic: I Beg Your Pardon
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juniperb Moderator Posts: 856 From: Blue Star Kachina Registered: Apr 2009
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posted November 23, 2008 07:45 PM
Anyone want to offer up personal picks??I Beg Your Pardon The top prospects for a last act of Bush clemency. Attention, convicts: Time is running out to get applications to the pardon attorney at the Justice Department if you're hoping President Bush will be your decider. Few of you should get your hopes up—Bush has rejected a record number of requests for pardons and commutations. In the last eight years, he has pardoned 157 people—a miserly sum compared with his predecessors. But you don't have to give up entirely: More are expected in the coming months, most notably for Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby.
Before President Clinton went on a pardon spree for wealthy friends and campaign contributors at the end of his presidency, pardons and commutations were traditionally bestowed on average citizens who had successfully reformed their lives and given back to their communities after completing lengthy sentences. Pardon experts believe that of the Bush prospects, the 1980s junk-bond king Michael Milken best fits the rich-and-famous description. Most of the other top prospects for pardon listed below have, like Milken, been convicted and served prison time. But not all. People who are merely charged could be eligible for pardons, as Bush's father demonstrated when he pardoned former Defense Secretary Casper Weinberger. And Washington is abuzz with the prospect that Bush might issue pre-emptive pardons for government employees who could face trouble in the future stemming from their roles in his "war on terror." We've rated potential pardonees' chances from zero to four "Get of Jail Free" cards. see editors picks here http://www.slate.com/id/2204984?y=1
I pick Scooter Libby & crafty Martha Stewart
juni
------------------ ~ What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world is immortal"~
- George Eliot IP: Logged |
AcousticGod Knowflake Posts: 4415 From: Pleasanton, CA Registered: Apr 2009
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posted November 24, 2008 01:45 AM
I definitely agree with you on Scooter Libby. Probably anyone having to do with the political firings (though I do agree with Jwhop that at least in theory there shouldn't have been any legal issue there). IP: Logged |
AcousticGod Knowflake Posts: 4415 From: Pleasanton, CA Registered: Apr 2009
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posted November 24, 2008 09:56 PM
List of some of themIP: Logged |
juniperb Moderator Posts: 856 From: Blue Star Kachina Registered: Apr 2009
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posted November 25, 2008 11:17 AM
Thanks !! Curious of the legalities here, with the indictment of Dick Cheney and Alberto Gonzales, can Bush pardon an indictment without a conviction? juni ------------------ ~ What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world is immortal"~ - George Eliot IP: Logged |
AcousticGod Knowflake Posts: 4415 From: Pleasanton, CA Registered: Apr 2009
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posted November 25, 2008 11:20 AM
That article seemed to suggest that it would be controversial to do something like that, but it doesn't sound like it's outside the realm of possibility.IP: Logged |
juniperb Moderator Posts: 856 From: Blue Star Kachina Registered: Apr 2009
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posted November 25, 2008 12:09 PM
Controversial, yes but wondered if it was legal in the strictest letter of the law. Do you ever recall it happening?? ------------------ ~ What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world is immortal"~ - George Eliot IP: Logged |
AcousticGod Knowflake Posts: 4415 From: Pleasanton, CA Registered: Apr 2009
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posted November 25, 2008 12:25 PM
No, I don't, but I've never paid close attention to the pardons either. It probably would be challenged, but it's possible that they'd get away with it.IP: Logged |
AcousticGod Knowflake Posts: 4415 From: Pleasanton, CA Registered: Apr 2009
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posted November 26, 2008 04:10 PM
Word from MSNBC is that Bush won't try to issue pardons to people not currently indicted in his administration. To do so would be to welcome challenge. Instead, he's counting on the new administration not pursuing investigations into those things.IP: Logged |