"I'll Be Freed For Christmas" 2008 George W. Bush Pardon Pool

One year from now, George W. Bush will almost certainly celebrate the end 2008 - and his term of office - with a festive round of questionable pardons and, possibly, even a few Scooter Libby-like commutations. Questionable pardons have become a holiday tradition for presidents in their last year in office.

Some Republicans will try to say Bill Clinton started it with his pardon of billionaire tax evader Marc Rich. But questionable pardons have been something of a Republican specialty in recent decades.

Nixon pardoned Jimmy Hoffa and George Steinbrenner. Ford pardoned Nixon and the Vietnam draft evaders. Ronald Reagan pardoned two FBI agents convicted of breaking into Vietnam protesters' digs. Most of these questionable pardons came in the middle of terms.

It was Bush the Elder who seems to have started the end-of-term tradition when he covered his own wrinkled old ass with a questionable pardon of Reagan Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger for lying to the independent counsel then looking into the Iran-Contra Affair. Once pardoned, Weinberger could not be compelled to tell the truth about his or Bush the Elder's role in selling arms to Iran during the Camelot that was the Reagan presidency.

What a guy.

Now it will be Junior's turn. And there he'll be, spending that last Christmas in the White House with little left to do except cover eight years' worth of potentially criminal tracks.

Bet you this will be one round of legal flim-flammery he won't entrust to the usual legal suspects. No naïve, amateurish, Gonzales-like deliberations for this job. No.

The corruption and chicanery fall way too close to home. These are the guys who flew teams of lawyers into Florida aboard Enron company planes in 2000. The guys who let energy companies shape energy policy. Jack Abramoff's bobos. Karl Rove's slappies. The ones who lied us into a war, borrowed hundreds of billions to fund it, and plan to leave the real work of extracting Uncle Sam's fanny from that meat grinder to the next administration.

Deciding who gets pardons and who gets left twisting in the wind should be a job for a team of tough, seasoned experts. If I were Junior, I'd spiff James Baker a few million to make sure it's done right.

It's a big, subtle job. After eight years on the White House, they're not going to be able to remove every skeleton from every closet or erase every email from the government and Republican party hard drives. If they're not careful, if they're not meticulously thorough, somebody critical is going to be left unpardoned. Feelings will be hurt. Egos bruised. Book deal or grand jury, somebody will tell-all.

So let the speculation begin. Take a moment, hit comment, and enter the George W. Bush Pardon Pool below.

Tell us: Who Bush will pardon a year from now? Why? Who will he throw to the lions? Why?

I'm sorry to say that, in spite of the booming Bush economy, there will be no prizes. But when the man finishes his term with that breathless flurry of pardons you will have the satisfaction of referring your friends back to this post, and saying, "See? I told you so."

Comments

[ljsfolly]

Bush continues to leave innocent border guards in prison hell after the were proseceuted by guys who hid the truth from the jury. The guy they gave immunity to is a low life drug runner who would lie about anyone to blame the guards for a shot in the ass when he was running away with a pile of drugs in his bag! he got caught again before the trial and here we sit with scooter out and about after risking the life of an CIA agent and her contacts. Bush is as crooked as the drug runner and he can only get shot in the ass if he hunts with darth cheney.

[clr2]

He needs to pardon the border patrol agents who were protecting our country. Compean and Ramos need to pardoned right now!

[wldnswmmr]

The obvious pardons are those who might be charged with the most serious crimes, the War Crimes Act and the FISA felonies and the Plame outing. So that's Cheney, Gonzales, Yoo, Addington, Rumsfeld, Carbone, Libby and all the press secretaries at a minimum. The agonizing part for Bush is that he can't pardon himself. So does he want to go on record as another in the handful of Presidents who retired under a cloud? He gives one up to Poppy if he does. But that's the only safe play. He has to quit in time to let Cheney take the oath of office, while not leaving so much time he commits another crime, which he can do in a matter of seconds. Oh, the humanity!

[wldnswmmr]

Well, it's a two-step. First, I'm not sure Bush can pardon himself, and that's the most important step he can take, because he's in everything up to his eyeballs. So he'll finish the pardoning of Scooter Libby, natch, and then pardon Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, Ari Fleischer, Scott McClellan, Tony Snow, Dana Perino, Harriet Miers, Alberto Gonzales, David Addington, Richard Perle, Carbone, Rumsfeld, Condi Rice - at least. Then he resigns, and Cheney then pardons Bush for absolutely everything. Problem, of course, is that I believe a presidential pardon only exonerates for federal crimes. Not sure, but maybe. So if the US ever signs on to the International Criminal Court, then Plan B - the ranch in Paraguay, and that area of South America will have a sudden new influx of aging guys with pasty skin and bad consciences, the biggest invasion since about 1945.

[PaMike]

Fact check: Carter pardoned the Vietnam draft dodgers on his first day in office.

[santorini8]

Scooter Libby to receive a full pardon, not just commutation, will be necessary to keep him quiet. Of course a pardon for Cheney would insulate him from post-administration trials under the next Congress. Alberto Gonzalez is high on the pardon list, and, heck, let's go for the gusto! I say Bush will pardon himself too! Wait, he can't, so after he pardon's Cheney, on January 19, 2009, Bush will resign! Then Cheney will be Prez, and Cheney can pardon Bush too! That'll cover all the backsides that desperately need covering.

[hopeless277]

It obvious, isn't it? He'll pardon himself for all crimes past and future. But if you insist, here goes.
Rove-
treason
Cheney-tre­ason,murde­r,rape,the­ft,incest,­robbery,fr­aud, perjury, obstruction of justice,war crimes, torture,injury to a child,molestation of a child,kidn­apping,ter­rorism, and bribery.
All Republican members of congress-
treason, bribery, theft,frau­d,obstruct­ion of justice,ge­nocide,ele­ction fraud,perj­ury,molest­ation.
Nancy Pelosi-
treason, obstruction of justice, theft, robbery, bad eye job.