Cheyney: Bush should have pardoned Scooter

DaemonSeid · #1 01-23-2009, 06:52 AM

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Former President George Bush should have pardoned Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Dick Cheney said after stepping down as vice president this week.

Lewis "Scooter" Libby was convicted of lying to a grand jury and investigators in 2007.

"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," Cheney told Stephen F. Hayes of the Weekly Standard, a leading conservative Washington magazine.

Libby, Cheney's former chief of staff, was convicted of obstructing a federal investigation into the revelation that Valerie Plame Wilson was a CIA agent.

He was sentenced to 30 months in prison and fined $250,000. Bush commuted the sentence, which he called "excessive." But he did not pardon Libby, much to the aggravation of many influential conservatives.

Unlike a presidential pardon, which wipes a person's crimes off the books, Bush's commutation of Libby's sentence only means that he does not have to serve the prison sentence. He is still considered guilty of the crime of which he was convicted.

Hayes said that Cheney had publicly disagreed with Bush only four times in the eight years of the Bush administration. They were out of office for only a day before this disagreement surfaced.

Bush granted 189 pardons and 11 commutations during his eight years in office, far fewer than Presidents Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan in their two-term administrations.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/...bby/index.html

nittanyalum · #2 01-23-2009, 12:56 PM

What is that strange twinge I feel? It's so unfamiliar. I may have felt it once or twice before but not in a loooong time. Could it be... agreement with, nay, yet, approval of GDub? *shudders* What an odd feeling, I'm just. not. used. to. it.

And btw, suck on it, Cheney and Libby.

nikki1920 · #3 01-23-2009, 01:53 PM

Shut up, Cheyney and roll far, far, far away.

DaemonSeid · #4 01-23-2009, 02:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nikki1920

Shut up, Cheyney and roll far, far, far away.

He won't be shooting anyone else anytime soon.

PhiGam · #5 01-23-2009, 02:46 PM

I agree with Cheney, Libby was unethical but he's not a danger to society and shouldn't be behind bars. Unfortunately, Bush was so unpopular at the end of his term that he couldn't pardon Libby.

honeychile · #6 01-23-2009, 02:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PhiGam

I agree with Cheney, Libby was unethical but he's not a danger to society and shouldn't be behind bars. Unfortunately, Bush was so unpopular at the end of his term that he couldn't pardon Libby.

Please read the difference between a commutation and pardon again. Libby won't have to serve any time, but his record will show that he was found guilty of a federal crime.

There are thousands of jobs that cannot be held by anyone with a federal record, whether or not they served any time.

KSigkid · #7 01-23-2009, 02:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by honeychile

Please read the difference between a commutation and pardon again. Libby won't have to serve any time, but his record will show that he was found guilty of a federal crime.

There are thousands of jobs that cannot be held by anyone with a federal record, whether or not they served any time.

But, I believe he was disbarred, and now can't practice law.

I'm unsure of whether a pardon would allow him to re-apply for the bar...

nate2512 · #8 01-24-2009, 07:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KSigkid

But, I believe he was disbarred, and now can't practice law.

I'm unsure of whether a pardon would allow him to re-apply for the bar...

One would have to assume so. He goes to apply for the bar, they run a background check, he's clear. The same thing could have happened to someone unknown, and hardly anyone would know that difference, just because he's rather well known shouldn't make a difference.

MysticCat · #9 01-26-2009, 10:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nate2512

One would have to assume so. He goes to apply for the bar, they run a background check, he's clear. The same thing could have happened to someone unknown, and hardly anyone would know that difference, just because he's rather well known shouldn't make a difference.

It could, and should, make a big difference. Not the fact that he's well known, but the fact that his conviction is well-known to the bar. Bar examiners don't just look at criminal convictions, they look at anything that would reflect on an applicants' professional ethics and fitness to practice law.

He'd be reapplying to the bar, so even if the examiners had been living under a rock, his application for readmission would indicate why he lost his license to beging with. I'm not saying that his application to be readmitted shouldn't even be considered had he been pardoned, just that a pardon wouldn't, and shouldn't, equal automatic readmission.

KSigkid · #10 01-26-2009, 10:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MysticCat

It could, and should, make a big difference. Not the fact that he's well known, but the fact that his conviction is well-known to the bar. Bar examiners don't just look at criminal convictions, they look at anything that would reflect on an applicants' professional ethics and fitness to practice law.

He'd be reapplying to the bar, so even if the examiners had been living under a rock, his application for readmission would indicate why he lost his license to beging with. I'm not saying that his application to be readmitted shouldn't even be considered had he been pardoned, just that a pardon wouldn't, and shouldn't, equal automatic readmission.

Especially since the state bars ask you EVERYTHING under the sun, including the name of your second grade girlfriend, and how many times you got detention.