Pardon My Sarong

With only five days to go ---- the sands of time are dwindling in the hour glass that is the Bush Misadministration. What will be his last move on the chess board of the presidency? Bombing Iran? Shredding the constitution in public view? A coup d'etat? Nope - it will be

Pardon me, Prez Is this the Washington DC get free card?

There are some obvious choices like Scooter Libby and Jack Abramoff (though both seem unlikely). But can President Douchebag pre-emptively pardon someone who has NOT been charged with a crime? Short answer: YES

From Slate, July 2008

In 1866, the Supreme Court ruled in Ex parte Garland that the pardon power "extends to every offence known to the law, and may be exercised at any time after its commission, either before legal proceedings are taken, or during their pendency, or after conviction and judgment." (In that case, a former Confederate senator successfully petitioned the court to uphold a pardon that prevented him from being disbarred.) Generally speaking, once an act has been committed, the president can issue a pardon at any time—regardless of whether charges have even been filed.

Richard Nixon was pardoned by President Ford for "all offenses against the United States which he … has committed or may have committed or taken part in between the date of his inauguration in 1969 and his resignation in August 1974."

At the Jan 12, 2009 farewell Presidential Press Conference (or rather scolding by Bush) - Sheryl Gay Stolberg of the New York Times specifically asked Bush whether he would issue pre-emptive pardons for the criminals in his Administration.

STOLBERG: Mr. President, in recent days, there's been a fair amount of discussion in legal circles about whether or not you might give preemptive pardons, pardons in advance, to officials of your administration who engaged in anything from harsh interrogation tactics to perhaps dismissing U.S. attorneys. I'd like to know, have you given any consideration to this? And are you planning on it?

THE ASSHOLE PRESIDENT: I won't be discussing pardons here at this press conference. Would you like to ask another question?

In other words, Bush said: Yes I am Sheryl, and don't ask me such questions you libural twat.

So who are some of the people likely to get an innoculation of Bush love potion #9?

• Dick Cheney - Vice president who orchestrated the use of torture, secret prisons and detention without charge.
• John Yoo - Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel authored memos that tried to provide a legal basis for the torture and abuse of prisoners in U.S. custody.
• Alberto Gonzalez - Former White House Counsel chaired discussions about the authorization of specific forms of torture and abuse, and urged the president not to apply the Geneva Conventions to many of the detainees.
• Princess Ferragamo - Chaired the National Security Council meetings reportedly authorizing specific forms of abuse on specific prisoners.
• David Addington - Former counsel to Cheney had central role in developing the torture, abuse, and detention without charge policies.
• Donald Rumsfeld - Former Secretary of Defense authorized the use of abusive interrogation methods at Guantánamo Bay Naval Base
• General Geoffrey Miller - Oversaw Guantánamo Bay Naval Base when prisoners were abused and tortured there, and traveled to Iraq to oversee the "Gitmoization" of Abu Ghraib.
• John Ashcroft - Reportedly participated in National Security Council meetings authorizing specific forms of abuse on specific prisoners and approved Office of Legal Counsel torture memoranda.
• William Haynes - General Counsel at the Defense Department, signed off on the use of abusive interrogation methods by DoD personnel.

Of course Morning Schmoe was talking about how great it was we did all these "things" (like torture, eavesdrop, wiretap, shred the Constitution etc.) -- because we have not been attacked since 9/11. The ends ALWAYS justifies the means in the small minds of people like Joe Scarborough.

My question - what are the odds Bush issues some "pre-emptive pardons" and to whom will he issue them to? I would bet they are handed down on 11:59 a.m. on January 20, 2009.

Cheney comes in at 1-10.