Sunday Roundup

This week was filled with talk of presidential pardons. Remember Marc Rich? He's baaaack -- with his pardon arising as a possible obstacle to Eric Holder's confirmation. Meanwhile, Bush has received 658 pardon applications in the last 13 months, including requests from Michael Milken, Marion Jones, and "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh. Conrad Black wants in on the pardon party; so does Scooter Libby (apparently the commutation just wasn't enough). Bush has been very tightfisted with pardons, granting fewer than any modern president. But speculation is rampant that he might be willing to preemptively pardon the main players on his "torture team," including Cheney, Rummy, Addington, and Yoo. And maybe himself, too? Finally, Sarah Palin pardoned a Thanksgiving turkey in Alaska but was oblivious to the fate of its doomed buddies (don't miss the video).

Comments

[MayaBeach]

The Bush administration is rife with criminal acts which have shredded the Constitution. As has been discussed, a "commission" such as the 9/11 to investigate various crimes would do nothing except let those who are guilty be free to pursue a life of luxury at taxpayers expense. The "Pardon Gate" savings & loan scandals are only one example of how the laws of the land have been eviscerated by the Bush/Cheney administration. If Obama ignores or does nothing (like appoint a commission) he will effectively be condoning presidential high crimes and misdemeanors, and set a legal precedent for future abuses of power, such as the '05 Bush detainee act. This is very serious, and would be an unconscionable affront to the rule of law which was put in place to prevent the very things that the Bush administration has routinely flouted. Those who break the law must be held accountable to re-establish governmental credibility at home and abroad.

[gemstone1000]

Thank you, Arianna, for pointing out this morning on This Week that we are a center left country and NOT a center right country as all the repubs keep claiming.

[beaupritchard]

I liked Arianna at this roundtable mixing up with the likes of Wills and Brooks... she seemed to be in her element whereas the others had a quavering in there voice ... no doubt shock at being opposed by a strong knowledgeable woman.

I thought for a first time out Arianna did well on the Maddow show ... although she's elegant in nature and exotic in tone than Maddow. There's seems to be a pattern and a tempo viewers are used to in talk and radio shows and when one does not match that tempo(especially) a seeming gap exist between thoughts ... a small noticeable pause that comes from reading scripted work and goes away with time.

Perhaps producers should temporarily rename the shows "the Arianna Huffington" show or "This Week with Arianna" (or even "This week with Arianna and george" for a while) ... just a thought.

[jalowe1957]

Pardon me, but what did the likes of Michael Milken, Marion Jones, "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh, Conrad Black, and Scooter Libby do to desreve a presidental pardon.

All this sounds like going to a Roman Catholic confession and asking the priest to grant absolution.

Like Tom Lehrer said in his inmortal song, "The Vatican Rag," "Everybody's doing their own kyrie elison..."

[Sammy00400]

The same thing Marc Rich did. Well.. that is if they contributed any money. Same ol same ol.

[AbrahamSadegh]

Article II, Section 2 of our Constitution states that the President: "shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States ...."

This is one aspect of our Constitution that needs to be amended because it represents a miscarriage of justice against all those at all levels of our society who have to submit for one reason or another to a legal proceeding from its inception to its conclusion.

This unjust power also keeps the public from knowing "the whole truth and nothing but the truth" it is entitled to in regard to public officials such as President Nixon, those involved in the Iran-Contra affair and President Clinton"s controversial pardons, and I. Lewis Libby who had and/or might have acted contrary to the nation's legitimate rights.

This provision of the Constitution actually indirectly encourages the breaking of the law especially by those who might, for one reason or another, feel confident that they would be pardoned by the President if the truth was revealed.

[Alex02139]

The existence of Pardon by the head of state is as old as Magna Carta and is crucial to justice. There are cases where pardons serve the interests of justice, where people have served their time and fixed their lives, or when people are stuck in situations that are illegal but not malicious. Pardons are crucial to our system, and it is typical of the nasty, petty, vicious Bush that he has granted fewer than any other modern president.

[AbrahamSadegh]

How long something has existed is not as significant as how relevant it is to the world in real time. Patriarchy, for example, has been around since the dawn of man and is becoming more and more irrelevant.

Unfortunately the abuse of the power to pardon has been more prevalent in recent decades than the legitimate application of that power. I believe President Carter, for instance, used the power legitimately and courageously when he granted amnesty to Vietnam-era draft evaders who might have evaded the draft out of conviction or cowardice. Neither a conscientious objector nor a coward should play a part in a military undertaking anyway.

In agreeing with you in general, perhaps the constitution could be amended to limit the power of the president being able to pardon individuals not as much for justice's sake but for political and self-serving reasons. Perhaps the Congress could have a role in how the power to pardon is applied.

Something has to be done to limit the powers of a president anyway. This administration has proven the need for such a limitation beyond the shadow of a doubt. No president should have the power to deceive the nation into getting involved in a pre-emptive bloody and disastrous war single-handedly, to undermine civil liberties, and to act as if the Congress and the Courts do not or should not exist.

[kellygrrrl]

this pre-emptive blanket pardon is complete and utter BS and not even remotely legal!

as to Sarah's slaughterhousescene -- what shocks me most is not that she thought it was "fun" (her word) it is that she has zero concept that it might be offensive or frightening to anyone else.
To me, this epitomizes the problem with the new GOP

[longislandlol]

Bravo-- you are the roundtable wiz kid-- you are refreshing, brilliant in your analysis, very factual and up-to-date- and far better than all the rest who ever sat at the roundtable.....

[000Jade000]

Arianna,

You were fantastic on This Week. I completely agree with you that the Big Three execs. should be canned. My question to you: do you also believe that the risk managers at all of the financial institutions should be thrown out, too?

[bethinCary]

violating the Geneva Conventions was a GLOBAL crime as well.
Plus I though pardoning anyone-also goes with an admission of guilt-by those pardoned.

[kellygrrrl]

perhaps the World Courts will have to seek Justice -- but it really should be Our National Duty to clean this up.

[mulegino]

It doesn't matter. Even if Bush were to pardon everyone, including himself, there will be a smiling transition of power, and Bush will go into a comfortable prosperous retirement, unencumbered with any sense of responsibility for the consequences of his recklessness. The cult of celebrity will draw the spotlight onto itself, and the Washington punditry will be, breathlessly and sycophantically, caught up in the new Camelot, forgetting the wounds inclicted on the nation, still fresh and festering.
Holder will get his job-some senators will no doubt feign interest and some even indignation, but things will continue pretty much as usual.
Ethics in government only means something with regards to those few poor saps who for some reason or another are expendable, have outlived their usefulness, or have upset the really powerful-think Trafficante, or Cunningham, or lately, Ted Stevens.

[PhilipTaylor]

Received this in an email yesterday: "On Friday, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) introduced H.Res. 1531 urging President Bush not to pardon senior administration officials for crimes the President authorized."

"Rep. Nadler's leadership is crucial because he chairs the House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties and can use his credibility and clout to move the resolution forward either during the lame duck session in December or when the next Congress convenes on January 6."

"Nadler's resolution urges Congress to investigate those crimes and any pardons relating to them, and urges the Attorney General (current or future) to appoint an Independent Counsel to prosecute those crimes."

[omahkohkiaayo]

The most dangerous aspects of the pardon of Marc Rich is not the possible nexus between contributions to the Clinton edifice by Rich's wife and his subsequent pardon, what is more troubling is the possible influence of Israeli intelligence and AIPAC and this pardon (see Gideon's Spies: The History of the Mossad by Gordon Thomas). I hope that this will be explored in the confirmation proceedings on Holder.

There is another aspect to consider with respect to any of these pardons that are clearly access-dependent and a subject of private lobbying. None of us wants a total surveillance state, thus for the law to work and to do what law is supposed to do, the majority have to respect and obey the law, even if personally inconvenient, even when not being monitored or threatened with legal action thus freeing scarce resources to go where there is probable cause to beleive they are needed to combat a relative minority of lawbreakers. These pardons not only lead to inequality in access to and treatment by the law for some lawbreakers over others, these pardons undermine general respect for, obeying of and thus effectiveness overall of the law itself which leads ultimately to something like Mad Max Beyond the Thunderdome or Darwin Day on a mass level.

Pardons should be reserved for violations of due process unaddressed and thus reasonable doubt about the found guilt of a person.

[truthbrigade]

I'm not a Hillary fan by any means; and think we could have a better SoS than her. That said, I relish the thought of how Obama / Hillary taking the reign of State and Dept. of State will affect the psyche of the conservative / Goober Nation crowed. Oh! It is a double fisted shove up ¦¦¦¦.

Cheers!

[Lamorial]

So Lord Black of Crossharbour, a master of sesquipedalian verbiage, wants a pardon from Bush, a dyslexic slayer of English does he? Me thinks they should both b in jail.

[ROWAnne]

Conrad already is, waxing poetic recently in the Globe and Mail about FDR's New Deals.

[HelixScanr]

During this entire administration we've see a whole gallery of characters. So many and with each one being more memorable than the next. It's really easy to lose track ot all them. Now to then hear of the "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh, again, brings me back to all the memories of these past eight years. Just WOW