Bush Flooded With Pardon Requests: Mike Milken, Marion Jones, "American Taliban"

newsweek.com:

UPDATES:

Bush Pardons 14, Commutes 2 Prison Sentences

The Justice department is getting flooded with a new wave of requests for pardons and commutations from convicted felons hoping for clemency from President Bush before he leaves office. A number of politically connected Washington lawyers have been retained to push the cases, but there are few signs that Bush will be open to anything resembling the last minute "pardon party" that marked President Clinton's final days in office.

Bush has taken a stingy stand on pardons, granting fewer of them--just 157, and none of them high profile--than any president in modern history. He has directed all hopefuls to submit applications to the Justice Department's Office of the Pardon Attorney, which evaluates all requests using strict, longstanding guidelines, including a requirement that applicants have finished serving their sentences and expressed remorse. The office received a record 555 pardon requests during the fiscal year ending Sept. 30 and an additional 103 in the past month.

Read the whole story: newsweek.com

Comments

[claptrapa]

My first suggestion would be to pardon himself in advance of the criminal investigations. Would that work?

[mydogshakespeare]

It's like Christmas-time for felons, especially well-connected ones.

[Culturemaven]

Precisely. I know someone who received a pardon (yeah, I got friends in low places) and it was a ridiculous amount of money to get that done. Very sly stuff, I must say.

[Cambridge9]

While Governor of Texas he refused to consider commutations of the death penalty, and Texas held the dubious distinction of executing more prisoners than any other state - ever. I get the impression that our President has no empathy or sympathy for anyone who may have crossed the line of the law.

Two pardons which should have no debate - they should be automatic - are the two border guards (Ramos and Campean) who were doing their job. However, the Texas attorney who put these men in jail should replace them and serve out the balance of their terms.

As my dear mother would say (if she was still alive) "President Bush doesn't have a heart. It's a swinging brick!"

[Vere15]

Never could figure out why he called himself a "compassionate" conservative. If he was serious, he seems to have a warped view of what normally is an altruistic trait. Perhaps, he and a dictionary are strange bedfellows

[Crozier]

I, George Walker Bush, do hereby issue ALL the Presidential Pardons for 2008.

I grant a full and absolute pardon unto:

George Walker Bush and Richard Cheney

[MadxAsxHell]

Actually, I don't know that he CANNOT do this--on the morning of 20 Jan 2009! I think anyone who can be called to testify against him should, from his perspective, be granted a blanket pardon.

Of course, I hope Bush remains A-Retentive about pardons and doesn't pardon anyone at all....

[BillMelater]

I wonder if he will pardon Ted Stevens? And what impact that would have on his getting drummed out fo the Senate? Not that it's going to matter much, because it looks like he will lose the election. Or did he lose already? I been configuring my new laptop the past couple days and haven't been paying attention.

http://billmel8er.wordpress.com

[haval2]

we shouldn't even pardon him...war crimes and crimes against our country...­just get hime to texas to clear brush.

[MsLiz]

I wonder if John Walker Lindh seriously thinks that George W. Bush will pardon him or commute his sentence. Seems logical to me that Bush would continue to vilify Lindh.

Lindh doesn't feel like a threat to me. He sounds like a sap.

[Earl]

Yeah, I think he got crappy legal advice. Should have delayed the trial until the emotions cooled down at least. He was just an idealistic kid in the wrong place at the wrong time.

[MsLiz]

Will swap pardon for jet plane ticket to Paraguay.

[dhertzfe]

He better pardon those border patrol guys. They were innocent to begin with.

[weatherwaxx]

There should be a pardon option; no system of justice is perfect. For example, Native American activist Leonard Peltier has been in prison for most of his adult life, for a murder on an Indian reservation -- in a case that even the FBI admits that their evidence was not convincing.

But there should be a clause barring an official from pardoning crimes committed at his behest or in his own interests, just teh way a judge or other official is supposed to recuse himself from a case in which he has personal interest. For example, Katherine Harris and Ken Blackwell should have resigned as Secretary of State or turned their election duties over to someone else when they were serving on Bush's election committee and overseeing elections in Florida and Ohio, respectively.

There are a few laws that need some fine-tuning. I'm sure Bush will give himself and all his buddies a blanket pardon, if Congress does nothing to block it.

Thank God the Republicans won't control the next few Supreme Court appointments!

[BPCentrisAmerican]

He will pardon anyone who can implicate him.

[mcfried]

I'm betting his pardons end up way stinkier than Clintons' and that's saying a lot. Anyone interested in the other side of that bet ? I'm expecting *crickets*

[MsLiz]

Chirp.

[harriscrl3]

Yeah but who will Pardon Bush.

Carol

[truthbrigade]

He can always plead insanity; and it will stick!

[mjb5406]

Oh, like "Scooter" Libby won't get a pardon without going through channels..­.

[mommadona]

This is a "privilege" left over from the monarchy model.

Much like the "privilege" the king had to deflower the bride on her wedding night.

I'm sure the "She's HOT!" Palin crowd would LOVE a return to those times.

This "privilege" needs to end. Period.
NO one is above the law.
No ONE.

[truthbrigade]

"NO one is above the law.
No ONE."

Judging by the last 8 years; this is a country of ignoramuses and wimps; it'll never happen.