Posted on 01/22/2009 9:06:39 AM PST by RobinMasters
Former Vice President Dick Cheney disagreed publicly with his boss just four times in the eight years they served together. Yesterday, however, on the first day after the official end of the Bush administration, Cheney disagreed with George W. Bush once more.
Cheney told THE WEEKLY STANDARD that his former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, whom he described as a "victim of a serious miscarriage of justice," deserved a presidential pardon.
Asked for his reaction to Bush's decision Cheney said: "Scooter Libby is one of the most capable and honorable men I've ever known. He's been an outstanding public servant throughout his career. He was the victim of a serious miscarriage of justice, and I strongly believe that he deserved a presidential pardon. Obviously, I disagree with President Bush's decision."
(Excerpt) Read more at weeklystandard.com ...
I agree. This whole thing was disgusting.
Libby played with reporters, and got burned as a result.
Not only is the whole investiagation and prosecution disgusting, but the media and Dems are out there claiming Libby was the leaker. He was not, but the facts do no matter any more in America.
I hope we will be hearing more from Dick Cheney. He is an honorable, decent and patriotic American. More so than his former boss.
I know I would agree with Cheney all the other times as well.
He was not, and Fitzgerald knew he was not even as he was holding press conference implying he was.
You are referring to DOJ regulations on when someone can APPLY to the Office of Pardons. The president, on the other hand, can grant a pardon at any time. His power to do so is plenary and absolute.
So...pardons for Scooter but not the Border Patrol agents? Obvious where Cheney’s sympathies lie.
One more reason, if you are ever questioned by authorities plead the 5th!
This man was screwed royally by the “system!”
And Bush just “spit in Libby's face” for his loyalty, troubles & work!
Nope - that's just a Justice Department "recommendation". What comes to mind immediately is Ford's pardoning of Nixon.
THE BP AGENTS DID NOT WANT PARDONS, they only wanted commutations as they continue to fight the charges for a complete exoneration in the courts.
But as always with you, do not let the facts get in the way of your rants.
Bush and Cheney may publically say they were on the same page almost all of the time, however, I think actions say more than words. I recall on election day 2006, Cheney went fishing. My suspicion is he had had enough at that point.
I know he can, but if he hadn’t gone by the DOJ regs the howls would have been heard around the world and probably caused more problems for Libby. I personally think Libby, the border agents and all indicted abu graab soldiers should have been given complete pardons.
So he didn’t give pardons because he thought it wasn’t fair since they usually only to go people who have influence and not ordinary people. Hmmmm
Libby would never have been prosecuted if he hadn’t been working for this administration and he became the scapegoat. I think Bush owed him the pardon.
Have you a special antenna in that tin foil hat?
The president can pardon anyone at any time for any federal crime. There is no constitutional limitation.
Reagan pardoned Weinberger before the his trial. Nixon was pardoned without being convicted. The draft dodgers were all pardoned before any trials.
The presidential pardon power is unlimited and unrestrained. There are procedures that have been put into place that limit when the Justice Department will consider a request for a pardon, but the president is not bound by those procedures. For proof just look at the Marc Rich pardon - the man had not even been tried and convicted yet, but received a pardon from Clinton.
A president can even issue a pardon for actions that have not even been charged as a crime yet. One thing I think Bush should have done is to issue a blanket pardon to anyone who engaged in interrogating terrorists, to prevent them from being prosecuted for torture.
Mm...I don’t think they ever said they were on the same page most of the time? If they did I missed it. Which is possible since I stopped listening to Bush a long time ago. Anyone who watched Cheney’s body language and listened to his voice knew he didn’t agree with Bush’s Miers pick as an example.
Cheney is a conservative on most issues and more resolute not interested in trying to make people like him. There is a reason Bush picked him as VP. To shut up the “gravitas” talking point AND to assure conservatives.
See #18
I know. See #18
Those are the Justice Department guidelines, but there are no restrictions on a Presidental Pardon.
If you'll recall, Ford pardoned Nixon for anything he may have done while in office. So he was pardoned even before he was charged, let alone convicted.
Got it. Thanks. I know that. See #18
YOu can’t be serious. It was the beloved Tim Russert who screwed Libby as the “sacrificial goat”, and it became a matter of whose memory of events was the more acceptable. Tim Russert’s neighbor, another journalist, was on the jury. Fitzgerald knew who the leaker was from the get-go (Dickie “Lib” Armitage), but told him to keep his mouth shut (along with the other beloved RINO, Colin Powell) while Fitzie went hunting in the White House.
A president who refuses to grant a pardon after a miscarriage of justice because he fears the howls of public opinion is not worthy of holding the office.
I’m serious as a heart attack on this.
I’m well aware of everything you list in your post. And I think Fitzgerald is despicable. Its my opinion this ‘leak’ was done at the behest of Colin Powell, via Dick Armitage, who its been said many times won’t take a dump with Powell’s okay, and has been known as THE DC gossip for almost two decades.
but Libby played with reporters, and got himself burnt. I’m convinced of this.
He should have known better.
I hope he writes a very strong memoir. It would shoot to number one - with a bullet - in the first week.
Yeah, sorry. Had I read all of the replies before opening my mouth...
When did you turn into Chris Matthews?
No problem, I do it all the time.
What a crock.
(chuckle)
I just paid attention to Ms Miller’s involvement in this case.
I know some are ‘Republican right or wrong’ in this forum. Doesn’t bother me, both sides are comprised of that mindset.
I don’t fall into that catagory. To me, Libby was stupid, and this is the result of that stupidity.
And I’m not giving Fitzgerald, or Powell, or Armitage, let alone Mr Plame and his fake blond wife a pass on this, far from it.
Its just my position is Scooter Libby made a rookie mistake with the press corps, as a Republican he should have known they were not his friend, they were never going to be his friends, and as such he should have never opened his mouth to any of them about anything with specific instructions to do so.
I also am not giving St Tim Russert a pass here either. I’ll always believe he perjured himself.
But Libby got himself into this mess. JMHO.
Baloney. The justice department refuses to send any pardon requests to the president until 5 years after conviction. That is why they did not "officially" ask for a pardon.
The family and many members of congress have been unofficially requesting a pardon from day one. There was nothing stopping Bush from granting a pardon.
So you're thinking that Cheney disagreed but is just keeping quiet on it? Unlike with Scooter?
President Cheney would have been AMAZING.
bump f l r
I disagree with Cheney.
Bush blew it big time by not stepping up at the beginning and saying immediately after the dying NY Times published Joe Wilson’s op-ed, “Yeah, it’s come to our attention that this lower-level diplomat, John Wilson, was sent on an unauthorized fact-finding mission to Niger by his wife, who apparently works at the CIA. We suspect there was some collusion between the State Department and a rogue element of the CIA to help fix the next election. At my request, the Justice Department has taken the matter under consideration and has launched an investigation. That’s all I have to say about the matter at this time.”
But Bush sat back and, as was his cowardly m.o., did nothing to defend himself, his supporters, or those around him. Libby should have picked up on Bush’s cowardice right away and simply told the complete, concise truth to the letter. Period. Let the chips fall.... But, no, Libby screwed up by fudging and dancing until he got caught.
Bush’s failure to offer a full pardon was like a vote of “present”. Even at the end he was running like a scared bunny rabbit from the Democrat press.
No reason to get personal here, Deb. Don’t even try to catagorize ME as a ‘bush hater’ nothing could be further from the truth, as thousands of posts here and elsewhere demonstrate conclusively.
I came to this conclusion after listening to Libby, and after hearing about his relationship with Miller.
He made a rookie mistake, and got burned, more seriously than warranted perhaps, but he was in the big leagues and thats what happens, fair or not.
Nobody told him to do this. He did it on his own.
Considering how the Media/so-called Journalists were the enemies of Bush et.al. from the beginning, the only solution for Bush was to ignore them as best he could. Libby should have, too, which I guess is your point. Have you read “Shadow Warriors” by K. Timmerman?
Yes, I have.
No, I'm not drawing any conclusions from this piece about Cheney's position on the border guards and don't know how you could.
It's evident to me that Cheney spoke out in this piece because Libby is his former Chief of Staff.
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