[Mark Felton]

Is this prudent?

[Howie]

The powerful protecting the powerful.

[Jim Robinson]

Well, presidential pardon is a constitutional power granted exclusively (obviously) to the president. If the Congress disagrees they can always impeach the president. Ooops, that sometimes does not work. Ah, well, then as a last resort, the people can always vote one or the other out. Hmmmm... been there, done that. The Constitution works fine when applied. Klayman should butt out. IMHO, of course.

[PLK]

Those FBI files obtained by the Clintonite administration have certainly paid for themselves many times over!

[lasereye]

The White House warns that documents dealing with the last-minute pardons issued by the former president should not be revealed to the public because releasing them would set a precedent that would hamper a president's ability to get confidential advice from parties outside the White House. "The president is entitled to receive confidential advice and candid assessments from government attorneys," said White House spokesman Scott McClellan.

This is pretty much the same reason that they didn't want the records of the energy task force made public. I think this makes more sense as an explanation than these idiotic conspiracy theories which have as much evidence as the Reagan-Bush-Iran "October Surprise" crapola.

Dems and various other brainless types interpreted the administration's objection to turning over the task force records as that some kind of quid-pro-quo deal had been cut at the meeting, i.e., "you give us a million in soft money and we'll open Alaska to drilling", the kind of thing that makes sense to people who have a cartoonish conception of reality.

I'm not sure, but I believe they lost their effort to keep them secret. In which case, if there was any such thing in there, we all would have heard about it by now.

[eureka!]

I read Ari Fleisher's comments in response to a question on this. He said that it wasn't a matter of executive privilege, rather, was a "standard" exemption claimed in connection with a FOIA request. I tend to believe him, having previously experienced the runaround one gets in making a request under FOIA. My take is that, in time, the documents will come out and the administration will not be blamed by the presstitutes, it will be pursuant to a court order....

[Texbob]

So what else is new? Bush has been protecting both crooked Clinton's since he took office. I am offend and think that makes Bush just a guilty as the Clinton's.

[hove]

My oh my.....the Clintons must sure have the goods on the Bushes. There is no other valid explanation for this story.

[pray4liberty]

Either the Clintons have a ton of dirt on the President, or the President is a darn good poker player who is not about to overplay his hand.

[Redleg Duke]

Bravo Sierra in the open. NewsMax on a bender.

[Freee-dame]

And a critic alleges that it is a result of "a tacit agreement between the Clintonites and the Bushites not to probe too deeply into each others affairs.?

Mena, Arkansas?

[RJS1950]

It is prudent, and as was noted during the period after the pardons were made, although a number of them were unseemly, even bordering on possible selling of pardons, there is no evidence or proof of any true illegality. Indeed, this type of unspoken agreement has not just been between Bush and clinton, but between all administrations. It ensures that the president will not be second guessed on exercising his constitutional perogatives, even if some of them might be ill-advised. Rather than worry about this already dead (in the public view) issue, I would much rather that Bush selectively use clinton's favorite method to screw dasshole and the dems; that is accomplish some of his objectives by using the executuve order to "stroke of the pen, law of the land" some of his ideas and programs into being. Screwing them with their own tool would be sweet revenge.

[Bullish]

I voted for Bush and I supported him. But this makes me want to barf! I guess Bush wants to have the same power to screw us over like Clinton did.

I hope Clinton chokes on his filthy, obscene pardon money.

[CyberAnt]

You must understand, this is about protecting the "office" of the President, not the person of Bill Clinton. I know it's hard to think of it that way, but it's important to know that Bush would never protect a criminal - except that the criminal was the President - so it makes protecting the "office" a little distasteful.

It's about protecting the executive power of the office!!