I Beg Your Pardon

Commentary magazine ^ | July 3, 2007 | Gabriel Schoenfeld

[3AngelaD]

Here is Hillary Clinton commenting on George W. Bush’s modest display of mercy to Scooter Libby, sparing him from prison: “this commutation sends the clear signal that in this administration, cronyism and ideology trump competence and justice.”

“Cronyism and ideology”? I agree with Hillary that cronyism is a terrible thing, but I think it is a stretch to say that that’s what the Scooter Libby affair was all about. If it was cronyism, Bush has not been very kind to his crony, keeping Libby’s fine, his probation, and his conviction intact. In any case, in thinking about Hillary’s statement, it is useful to bear in mind some of the pardons granted by her husband Bill. Among my favorites are his pardon of:

• Susan McDougal, Bill and Hillary’s close friend from the Whitewater days, convicted of mail fraud, aiding and abetting in misapplication of Small Business Investment Corporation funds, aiding and abetting in making false entries, aiding and abetting in making false statements.

• Henry Cisneros, Clinton’s Secretary of Housing and Urban Development from 1993 to 1997 when he left office after copping a plea to making false states to federal officials.

• Linda Jones, aka Linda Medlar, Cisnero’s girlfriend, convicted of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, to make a false statement to a bank, to launder monetary instruments, and to engage in monetary transactions in property derived from specific unlawful activity; aiding and abetting bank fraud; aiding and abetting false statements to a bank; aiding and abetting laundering monetary instruments; aiding and abetting engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from specific unlawful activity; obstruction of justice; falsifying, concealing and covering up a material fact by trick, scheme, or device; making a false statement.

Apart from cronies, one should note some of those pardoned for mishandling secrets:

• John Deutch, Clinton’s Director of the Central Intelligence Agency from 1994 to 1996, who kept classified documents on his personal computer, fell under a Justice Department investigation, and was pardoned before charges were brought.

• Samuel Loring Morison, a defense department employee who leaked classified documents to British magazine in an effort to get a job with it...

[3AngelaD]

Mrs. Clinton would have been wiser to keep her mouth shut instead of reminding us all of the perverse nature of her husband and his administration.

[Lexington Green]

Libby perjury bad - Clinton perjury good

[Tribune7]

The only punishment Scooter should have gotten was a prohibition on practicing law in Arkansas for three years.

[Cecily]

Let’s ask Billy Dale what he thinks of cronyism and the Hildebeast.

[TexasCajun]

The sad case is Mrs. Clinton doesn’t have keep quite because she has allies in BIG MEDIA to cover her fat ass!

[Enterprise]

Thankfully, Hillary is just too damned stupid to keep her mouth shut. Her own husband pardoned terrorists and drug dealers. She’s got nothing to talk about.

[kitkat]

The more lies they tell, the more people believe. And they want to put rightwing radio hosts off the air. Hitler would have been proud of them.

[mom-7]

This so called woman is unbelieveable. It is too bad that the sheeple of this country have forgotten about all of slick willies pardons. Think that the media will question the beast about these? Won’t hold my breath.

[Enterprise]

Last night on See BS Smarmy Pukey Katie Couric was commenting on the problems the commutation of Libby's sentence would cause Republicans in the upcoming election. It was predictable that she would weigh in with this kind of slant. And as predictably, she didn't mention this:

"It is now reported that he commuted the fraud sentences of four Hasidic Jewish leaders from New York in return for their community's support for his wife's Senate race."

Clinton accused of commuting sentences to help wife's Senate bid

The MSM and the Democrats - a flock of jackals.

[reagan_fanatic]

Just once I'd like to see a reporter with balls stand up and ask: “Mrs. Clinton, can you explain how your Husband's pardons of Susan McDougal and Henry Cisneros differ from that of Mr. Libbey?"

Make her squirm for a change.

[janereinheimer]

Oh the firestorm of outrage from Hillary. She said, “In this [Bush’s] administration, cronyism and ideology trump competence and justice.”

In an article released today by the Associated Press, http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CIA_LEAK_QUOTES?SITE=7219&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-07-02-20-24-17 a lot of presidential contenders were quoted. They were predominantly from Democratic politicians with the exception of Fred Thompson, Rudy Giuliana and Roy Blunt from Missouri.

Hillary didn’t say much, though, about her husband’s list of pardons. It forgives everything from “knowingly making under oath a false declaration regarding a material fact before a Grand Jury (Joseph A. Yasack, 1988),” to lots of drug distribution charges, mail fraud, bank fraud, assault with a dangerous weapon, and a long list of other convicted felons that were sentenced to prison.

Clinton even pardoned someone all the way back to a sentencing date of 1891 for a court martial (Henry Flipper) for conduct unbecoming an officer.

To read the entire list of Clinton’s pardons, go to this Department of Justice file at http://www.usdoj.gov/pardon/clintonpardon_grants.htm. I didn’t count them but it looks like hundreds of individual pardons.

Now, what was it that Hillary said about cronyism?

You can read her comment and those of all her presidential wannabee buddies at this AP site: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CIA_LEAK_QUOTES?SITE=7219&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-07-02-20-24-17

So just how is executive clemency different from a presidential pardon? Keep in mind that Bush did not pardon Libby.

Granting Libby clemency will allow him to proceed with his appeal. It just isn’t all that unusual for a person to be out of jail while a case in going through the appeals process.

Like, for instance, Kenneth Lay. Lay eventually had a heart attack and died before his appeal was finished, but he definitely was not in jail or under house arrest or anything like that. In fact, he was in some nice resort in Colorado.

[Hoodat]

Don’t forget Energy Secretary O’Leary and her taxpayer-funded kickbacks for DNC contributors.

[sgtbono2002]

Hillary is without doubt one of the most low-lifed individuals I know of.

No blow is too low for Hillary to throw.

For her to come out and attack this commutation of Libby after the pardons which won her the New York State Senate Seat is not only Ignorant,its an insult to anyone who hears it. Does she really think the American people are so stupid they cannot compare Clintons Pardon record with that of George Bush?

Bush did not pardon anyones Husband because his wife gave him a head job.
Marc Rich

Bush did not pardon anyone because Hillary’s brothers sold them the pardon.

Get real you stupid woman you are making a fool of yourself.

[ghostrider]

Why keep your mouth shut when the opposition is a WUS? Bush and the Repos could counter attack viciously with clintons 151 pardons and 38 commutations, but they won’t. The media, Demos and clintons should be hit hard, long and viscously with the pardons. Then they should be hit viciously with all the rest of the hypocritical crap and double standards that they spew. But they won’t be hit hard, because it is all a game with these sicko political types. They want to stir up hate across the country which serves as a straw dummy to distract us from the fact that they are marching lockstep toward some other nefarious agenda.