Pardon me?
George Bush has actually been stingy with his pardons -- Bill Clinton did more in his eight years -- but maybe George is just getting warmed up...saving the best for last. Like commuting the sentence of one his cronies who took the blame for outing a CIA agent. No biggie though, right?
"WASHINGTON - President George W. Bush has granted pardons to 14 individuals and commuted the prison sentences of two others, including a rapper, convicted of misdeeds ranging from drug offenses to tax evasion, from wildlife violations to bank embezzlement, The Associated Press learned Monday. [..]"
Washington Post writes about the latest Beltway guessing game -- who will George Bush pardon next? You can keep track of your score.
Consider names like: Michael Milkin, Duke Cunningham, Conrad Black, and, surprise surprise, Scooter Libby. Except for several of these folks, there's this little catch:
In order for people to be eligible for pardons, Justice Department regulations say that they have to be convicted, served their sentence and waited five years since their prison release.
Of course, you have to actually give a crap about the law in order for that to be important. Don't forget, we're talking Bush/Cheney here...
And, what do you bet, not one of them gets one-one-hundredth of the attention of the Mark Rich pardon?
Ah well, all presidents do this when leaving office. Only question in my mind is if the righty tighty evangelicals will holler as loud from the rooftops about Bush doing it as they did when Clinton did it...
The Justice Department has issued a press release with the names and particulars. Here's the list from December 2002 until March 2008:
You gotcher drug offenders, embezzlers, income tax evaders, and violators of the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act.
No, I'm not going to be snarky about how Bush came to know all those drug dealers...
But I can't resist this one -- "Geneva Yvonne Hogg of Jacksonville, Fla., convicted of bank embezzlement."
Her daughters Ima and Ura are grateful.
Sorry...
