It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

One of the latest Washington parlor Games seems to be spectating as to whether or not Bush will grant a full pardon to convicted felon Scooter Libby before his administration mercifully comes to an end two months from tomorrow. I say "seems to be" because, trust me, I am not nor have I ever been a member of the Washington Beltway, cocktail party circuit - in good standing or otherwise. All of the info you read on this site I receive second or third hand. Truth be told, I have not even set foot in the District of Columbia since April of 2000.

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Recently, however, the Princes and Princesses of D.C. are starting to ask a somewhat different question:

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Is the First Fool going to issue a blanket pardon for all of the people within this administration - and without - who have committed crimes against the American people in general and humanity in particular?

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Expect a major Constitutional crisis between now and January 20. In the months following the dawn of the 110th Congress in January of 2007, I couldn't understand why the special prosecutors weren't forthcoming. What the hell is the matter with these stupid Democrats? Can't they see that this is the most murderously criminal administration in American history? Are these nitwits blind? Are they part of the conspiracy? What gives?

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Then in early July, I was finally able to figure out the reason behind the Dem's hesitancy. The moment Dick Cheney's chief-of-staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice, Bush commuted his sentence. What's the sense of prosecuting these homicidal clowns for anything if the asshole in the Oval Office is simply going to render their convictions invalid?

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The plan, I am sure, is to wait until Bush is out of office, then bring forward the prosecutions. As I predicted on this very site almost two years ago, Bush would initiate a blanket pardon in the early hours of Christmas Eve "in the spirit of this glorious holiday season" much like his father did in the case of Casper Weinberger and everyone else convicted of the many crimes that were committed in the Iran Contra affair.

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Here's Bush's problem: No one in his administration has been convicted of or even charged with anything. A president cannot merely pardon someone in anticipation of an indictment, right? Right??? Of course he can't. Explain that, though, to the knuckleheads within the GOP who issue the talking points. You see, the idea is subtly being put forth that, not only can a president pardon anybody for anything - indicted or not - he even has the legal ability to vindicate himself.

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Beg Pardon??? (No pun intended).

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Is he really going to attempt something as hideously arrogant as that? Are you kidding me? This is George W. Bush we're talkin' about here! Of course he's going to attempt it. It would be uncharacteristic for him not to try it. At the very least, he's thinking about it - COUNT ON IT.

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Consider this: Do you think that the Founding Fathers gave the chief executive the power of the pardon in order that he or she would be able to conduct a criminal enterprise for four long years - and even longer - and then have the ability to walk away from their crimes scot-free? If that were the case, why in the hell did they give the Congress the power of impeachment in case of presidential "high crimes and misdemeanors"? What earthly sense would that have made?

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As the late, lamented Molly Ivins once observed, the founders of this country were "just about the smartest sons-of-bitches that ever lived". No article in the Bill of Rights and Constitution was meant to be self-defeating - of that you may be sure. If Bush attempts to do what I think he's going to do, the proverbial shit is going to hit the Constitutional fan.

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If a president had the legal right to pardon himself, why didn't it ever cross the mind of Rhodes Scholar Bill Clinton when he was charged with the "high crime" of lying about a fling with a half-witted intern? Why didn't President Andrew Johnson consider it when he was impeached in 1869? Because to have attempted as much would have been dismissed out of hand as laughable. In 1974, Richard M. Nixon and company considered this very maneuver - for about two minutes. I hate to be placed in the position of defending the Nixon Gang; they may have been a bunch of arrogant thugs, but they were also a fairly intelligent bunch. As soon as the idea floated by, it was immediately overruled as ludicrous. That's the funny thing about Dick Nixon. Say what you want about the hideous old bastard, compared to George W. Bush, he's starting to look like Thomas Jefferson. No, it just doesn't any stranger than that.

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If our commander-in-disguise attempts to let himself off the hook via the dubious means of a self-pardon, how would the Supreme Court rule on something as extraordinary as that? How would they rule on the subject of a mass pardon of people for crimes that are not even named? My prediction would be seven to two, with Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia being the only two holdouts. Seriously, you don't think that those two could possibly render an intelligent judgment, do you?

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America is about to come to the end of the most criminal administration in our history. We cannot allow these people to escape the justice that is their due. What would it say if Bush pardons everyone for the torture that took place under his watch at Guantanamo Bay? It would say that he knew what was going on there was illegal all along! He would be virtually declaring himself a war criminal!

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Think about this for a minute or two: How is it going to look if this disgusting little guttersnipe is able to say, "Yes, I tortured; Yes, I committed war crimes; Yes, I looted our national treasure; Yes, my Justice Department conducted political persecutions under my orders; Yes, I authorized warrantless wiretaps in direct violation of the written law; Yes, I lied this nation into an unnecessary war; Yes, I did all of those things and then some. But guess what? I pardon myself. I'm innocent! TAG, YOU'RE IT! NYAH! NYAH!"
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If we allow him and the people around him to walk away from the carnage they have created, then justice in this doomed country will forever be rendered a farce. Never again will any of us be able to say with a straight face that we are truly a nation of laws and not men. These people have committed serious crimes against humanity - not only in this country but abroad. In 2003, they presented the Congress with falsified evidence that led this country into committing the stupidest military blunder in our history. As a result, as many as one million Iraqi men, women and little children are dead. Almost five thousand American kids now rest in cemeteries all across the land. That, my friends, is a crime of the worst order. The perpetrators of that crime need to be punished - severely. We have no other choice. Justice denied is justice mocked.

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We'd all be better off just handing him over to the Hague. Let them deal with the hideous little bastard. We would be able to avoid the partisan earthquake that would certainly come with the criminal prosecution of George W. Bush, Dick Chaney and the tsunami of human incompetence that comprises this nightmare of an administration. Also, they would surely be able to avoid the death penalty - something I vehemently oppose - which by their own standards they deserve. They would be able to spend the rest of their miserable lives contemplating their sins. Now that sounds like a plan!

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Gosh! I'm sure gonna miss George W. Bush. Aren't you? He certainly has provided us with gales of unintentional laughter low these many years, has he not? More than one person has asked me, "What are you going to rant about when he's gone?" Good question. Fortunately for me, the Republicans won't be going away any time soon. Fortunately for me, those idiotic Democrats are way far from perfect. Yeah, as America heads into the post-Bush era, I'll have plenty to "rant" about, thanks just the same. But I will tell you this: Even if America survives into the next millennium, the situation will never again get as good as it was under George W. Bush - NEVER. For someone who writes about politics, his reign of stupidity has been a virtual gourmet feast of choice material on which to feed. Don't hold your breath. It just won't get this weird again....
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On second thought, that's exactly what I said when when Ronald Reagan left the White House....

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Never mind.

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Tom Degan

Goshen, NY

tomdegan@frontiernet.net

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SUGGESTED READING:

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The Lies of George W. Bush

by David Corn

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AFTERTHOUGHT:

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I've just discovered a great blog site called The Mills River Progressive. It is authored by a woman who goes by the name of Anna van Z. and it's a great read! Here's a link:

http://www.millsriverliberal.blogspot.com/

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In just sixty days the Bush administration will be tossed onto history's shit pile. January 20, 2009 just can't come soon enough for me. Hang in there, America!