Posted on 09/09/2005 2:37:36 PM PDT by Carl/NewsMax
If President Bush is upset that former national security advisor Sandy Berger destroyed top secret terrorism documents in a bid to obstruct the 9/11 Commission investigation, he sure has a strange way of showing it.
In June, two months after Berger pled guilty to what some say is the most serious crime ever committed by a senior White House official - Bush invited him to the White House, where, according to the Associated Press, the disgraced former Clinton advisor was trotted out to voice support for CAFTA legislation.
Yesterday D.C. Magistrate Judge Deborah Robinson rejected a plea worked out for Berger by the Bush Justice Department, saying the $10,000 fine and 3-year security suspension arranged by Public Integrity Section chief Noel Hillman was way too lenient.
Robinson quintupled the fine and sentenced Berger to 100 hours of community service, saying that Hillman's recommendation didn't "sufficiently reflect the seriousness of the offense."
President Bush, however, apparently didn't agree. Two months after Mr. Hillman filed the ridiculously light plea bargain, Bush rewarded him with an appointment to the federal bench.
Good thing Judge Robinson's sentence left Mr. Berger's security suspension in place. Otherwise he might be on the short list for FEMA director.
It's a strange world we live in, indeed.
Amen to all that.
NSA knows where the bodies are buried...among both parties. No way Berger was going to spend time in prison.
I suspect that at that level, everyone knows where every one else's bodies are buried. So unless you are prepared to deliver a knockout punch, its probably best to be polite.
and with this Katrina stuff now, we will never get to the bottom of Able Danger.
Politicians suck. Hasn't anyone inside DC ever heard of doing what is RIGHT for the nation first and foremost?
They'd better learn, and quick. "We the people" have about had our fill of this crap.
Occam's razor.
They're all on the same team.
President Bush's refusal to say anything bad about anyone, no matter how richly deserved, puzzles me. Of course, it's not often a good idea to slam people (no matter how hard they're begging for it)--you can too easily end up looking like the bad guy. And, of course, slamming a liberal is risky since they have absolutely no scruples about escalating the situation.
I think President Bush is taking the high road. And he's so genuinely nice himself that he appears to believe most people will respond reasonably to his kindess. Come to think of it, that's a trait he shares with Ronald Reagan.
It's all about money and power. Nothing surprises me regarding these elitists anymore.
HE can be nice and more effective, like what about a veto!!!
You know I hadn't put it in that context before now, but with all he knows jail is not a place you would want to put him.
It almost like the 15 year old computer hacker that when cought he was hired by the company whose system he hacked.
They did not want him in jail teaching what he knows to others.
They all protect there own in order to protect themselves.
This is such Bullshi!t!
Bush and the Republicans are looking more and more like the old Democrats.
Very true. He's also a real company man, isn't he? He seems to want to support everyone, even criminal creeps like Sandy Berger.
I think George Washington, who valued his personal integrity so highly, would have declined to meet with Berger. Not so long ago, people would shun someone who'd been convicted of a crime. Today criminals get book and movie deals. Makes me want to go home and push the TV out onto the driveway.
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