Presidential Pardons
No sooner was Scooter Libby convicted on 4 of 5 counts, than the conservative right was condemning the prosecutor and calling upon Bush to pardon Libby. The Fox so-called news channel, in the spirit of looking at the glass as one-fifth full, ran a banner headline proclaiming Libby’s acquittal on the one charge. That is the same channel that ran only one video about the Walter Reed scandal in the two weeks since it hit the headlines, while running over 50 different video reports on Anna Nicole Smith in the same time period.
The hypocrisy of the right wing Clinton haters is blatant,as the same people who cheered on the unproductive Whitewater witch hunt and then called for Clinton’s head over his attempt to cover up his sexual dallying claim to see no comparison between that “outrageous” perjury and the “insignificant” lies Scooter told. Clinton’s sexual foolishness with an intern [somewhat similar to the above irresistible photo of Bush pardoning a Thanksgiving turkey] had nothing to do with the subject matter of Whitewater, while Scooter’s lies obstructed the very purpose of the investigation into the outing of a CIA agent.
Pundits seem to be drifting toward a consensus that Scooter will be pardoned, in spite of the fact his pardon would be a departure from the guidelines Bush has been using for pardons. Bush has never been a stickler for following rules, including his own, so the more real question is whether he will pardon Libby now or let the appeal process proceed and pardon him later. Since voters have short memories, Bush may decide to do it well ahead of the 2008 election, as part of a secret deal that I think was made to keep Cheney from having to testify.
Some analysts are saying this conviction and likely pardon is the most scandalous executive branch disgrace since Iran-Contra and the pardoning of the offenders by Bush I, and before that Watergate. There is a pattern to all three of these shames, the Executive branch of our government breaking laws designed to protect the way our system works and then covering them up, by lying to the Congress, the American people and the lawful investigators, and then pardons being given to the offenders. There is something else these three have in common - Republican control of the Executive branch by the three Republican Presidential regimes of the last 50 years, Nixon/(Ford), Reagan/Bush I and Bush II. The right wing conservative ideology has no validity for the average American, so those who espouse it to gain votes must distort what it really is in order to get elected. Once elected, they continue the distortions, hiding the unlawful means to achieve the desired ends they cannot achieve openly and legally.
Ford said he pardoned Nixon to save the country the ordeal of pursuing a disgraced ex-President, a valid reason even if some people [not me] believed the pardon was part of an undisclosed deal to let Ford become President. Bush I gave four reasons for pardoning the Iran-Contra perpetrators, and those reasons will be offered for Scooter’s pardon. Here are the reasons, and why I say they are bogus:
1. The offender was motivated by patriotism. Patriotism is love of country and its Constitution, not devotion to a particular ideological view of how one would like the world to be.
2. No profit was sought. The power and prestige of the offices held by these offenders profits them in so many ways during and after their term of office, that they are motivated to go along with even illegal schemes in order to preserve their membership in “the club”.
3. They have a long record of service. Service in public office brings power, prestige and other rewards, during the time in office and afterwards, but it also brings the fiduciary duty to support and defend the Constitution. The higher the office and greater the duration of service, the higher and greater the duty. Not having breached an earlier and lower level of public trust should not be an excuse for breaching the higher level.
4. The price has already been paid by the embarrassment, disgrace and emotional impact on the offender and the family. And so it is for every wrongdoer.
In closing, there seems to be a simple solution to avoiding this problem in the future - do not elect any more Republican Presidents.
posted by Tom Blake | 4:24 PM
4 Comments:
Tom,
This is another very well studied analysis of the corruption of the Bush II administration. The Libby affair is a nuanced, complicated case of corruption. You cut through the complexity brilliantly by using the Clinton corruption as a backdrop. Many of us can understand Clinton's failures from personal experience. The rest of us, like Jimmy Carter, have committed lust from the heart. So we can all understand Clinton's failure.
But Libby's is another matter. His weakness is the Mephistophelean need for power. Not so many people are so tempted, and so many people will not comprehend his corruption. Too bad. The jerk deserves visible and loud contempt.
That Cheney, and therefore Bush owes Libby big time is very clear. So Libby will get his pardon, but then what? Isn't he a bit young to retire? How will he make a living? Well, the corrupters have big bucks. Maybe Cheney will adopt him.
But then you ended the piece with a zinger: Vote Democratic and we'll be free of this corruption. What a joke! As if corruption followed party lines or religious affiliations or national boundaries.
Democrats Andrew and Lyndon Johnson were great corruptors. Have you forgotten your history lessons about Democratic Tammany Hall? JFK (a Democrat) won his election through effective corruption on the part of his father and Chicago's Mayor.
In summary, don't let your personal political biases corrupt your analysis on this blog.
John from Phoenix
I admit my closing sentence was a little flippant and I acknowledge I have a bias against Republicans, but I do not think my analysis was corrupted by my bias. The Republican party since Nixon and Reagan has campaigned in dishonest ways, mischaracterizing issues, distorting facts and presenting misleading slogans while disguising their true agenda, which is to turn back the progress this country has made in domestic matters such as civil, worker and women rights, environmental protection, progressive taxation and provision of social services. The Republican Administrations from Nixon forward have continued the campaign mentality after they assumed office, and the result has been corrupt governance scandals.
Continuing the campaign mentality after assuming power was a hallmark of the Nazi's during Hitler's reign. As far as I know, Hitler was the first to effect that strategy.
Hitler, an evil person, gained tremendous support from his constituents using this strategy. That doesn't make the strategy evil, nor people who use this strategy. Therefore, I cannot blame Nixon and Reagon for doing the same.
If we ever elected a President who forbade all road construction on public lands, who got Congress to pass laws significantly reducing auto emissions, who doubled the number of species on the endangered list, and then bragged about all these policies, I would be out in front cheering. So why not Nixon and Reagan for their policies?
John from Phoenix
Dishonest campaigns which continue after power is obtained are as old as history. That people fall for such tactics is a sad comment on our powers of discernment. My condemnation is for the use of the tactics, regardless of the merits of the ultimate goals of the campaigners. Snake oil hucksterism continues in modern advertising and in political campaigns of virtually all Republicans and some marginal Democrats like the Clintons.
Financial greed and lust for political power drive the tactics, though some offenders say they are forced to do it to defend against such tactics by their opponents. Honest tactics work best for those who do not seek financial gain or political power, people like Buddha, Jesus, Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. Some politicians campaign on the high ground, but the more powerful the office they seek, the more likely they will be tempted to drop to lower ground to “defend” themselves. Obama is trying to hold to the high ground while Hilary is trying to drag him down. John Edwards does not let himself get dragged down, which is a large part of his appeal, but it does not seem to be enough to get him elected.
Nixon just happened to be President when the public groundswell demanded more attention be paid to environmental protection. Setting up the EPA appeased the environmentalists, while still being saleable to the right wing as a consolidation of many governmental offices into one agency. No Republican President since progressive Teddy Roosevelt has been an environmentalist. The Republican philosophy values business interests and private property rights over public protection of the environment.
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