Will the chimp pardon Libby?

[Cleetus]

Plamegate is getting awful close to the chimp. More lies and half-truths. Who thinks scooter has enough on the chimp to bury him? I think scooter can do serious damage, and to avoid the damage, the chimp will pardon him.

Does anyone agree?

[Loge23]

1. If he does, he's cooked

Even the masses will not stand for this.

[pdxmom]

2. Can't pardon someone who hasn't been found guilty of anything,

so it has to go through some kind of judicial process first.

[Cleetus]

4. oh, I didn't know.

So scooter will wind up dead in his car somewhere, victim of a self-inflicted gunshot...

[pdxmom]

8. That one is more likely, I think. Even if Scooter decided to take

a plea, Fitz won't cut him any kind of deal unless he has something to offer up. So unless Scooter is willing to do some time at Club Fed, which really isn't all that lovely a place, someone is going take some hits on this one.

[pk_du]

7. I believe thats incorrent - Gerald Ford pardoned Nixon

and he wasnt even indicted , let alone convicted or sentenced.

[Vinnie From Indy]

12. You're correct!

You do not have to be convicted of a crime to be pardoned. Nixon was pardoned by Ford without being convicted of a crime. Articles of Impeachment may have been served, but I can't remember.

[pdxmom]

15. The president, as we've seen throughout history, can pretty much

do as he likes Constitutionally, as we've seen throughout history. Nixon's pardon was highly unusual.

Yes, it can be done without a conviction, but there are federal guidelines (Fed Regulations #28) that actually outline the process for Presidential or Executive clemency.

If he's pardoned without a conviction, Shrub will again have stepped out beyond what is the typical operating procedure and the stated regulations from the Justice Department.

I hope he does it...it will just make the uproar bigger.

I'm thinking that an "untimely accident" is much more likely.

[Democrat 4 Ever]

13. FYI - Governor of Kentucky, Ernie Fletcher, pardoned just about

everyone in his Dept. of Transportation last year before any of them had been indicted for anything. All of them were guilty as sin but Ernie decided he needed them to "Get back to the business of running the government."

Fletcher thought that would put the brakes on the investigation but all it did was remove the pardoned officials ability to take the 5th against self incrimination. The investigation was still grinding on the last I heard - and the only person who is a risk legally is the damn governor. Keep your fingers crossed - he is a hateful, smirking, lying repug cut out of the same cloth as Chucklenuts, Dead Eye, McConnell and the rest of the Merry Band of Thieves aka the GOP.

[Swamp Rat]

3. McCain will pardon them all after he is installed as VP and after Bushler

is impeached.

[Cleetus]

11. don't I wish.

With all this miserable asshole has already gotten away with, it becomes clear that as acting dictator, and with both houses and the judiciary acting as rubber stamps, chimpy will continue to do whatever the fuck he wants to without fear. We take back the House, you can stick a fork in the chimps ass, he'll be done.

[kitkat65]

5. I double dog dare him. n/t

[Democrat 4 Ever]

6. I'd bet it is a done deal. Signed, sealed and safely residing in

a safe deposit box in Scooter's attorney's office. Betcha, betcha, betcha.

That, or a small plane accident will happen just after Libby decides a quick weekend getaway at a condo owned by the GOP would be just the thing to get him mind off his worries. Chucklenuts and The Family cannot afford to let this man sing.

[EST]

9. He will be pardoned.

That was already in the plan, or so it seems from all the conversation.
Libby just doesn't want to spend any time at all in the hoosegow.

[bigwillq]

10. Yes (nt)

[ThomWV]

14. Its His Only Way Out Short of Murdering Libby

Really, think about it.

[maveric]

16. Will he pardon Abramoff and Delay?

In the waning days of his presidency he can pardon anyone.

[iamahaingttta]

17. I'll betcha Libby has something really valuable...

...on these guys. Otherwise he knows he's a marked man. It's in some lawyers office somewhere, and if something happens to him, it immediately goes to the New York Times.

I'll betcha he's got a taped conversation of the pResident or the VP telling him to leak. I'll betcha he's got a signature authorizing something clearly illegal. I'll betcha.

Or... What he's REALLY got is all the notes from Cheney's Energy Task Force meetings from the first days of the (mal)administration. He's got the maps of Iraq with the circles and markings showing which of the Big Oil guys gets which oil fields. He's got it with pictures of Cheney planning a war with his Big Oil buddies. He's got evidence from early 2001 that something like 9/11 was gonna happen, and that they would attack Iraq as a response.

I'll betcha he's got a roomful of smoking guns, and he's got it because he was one of the architects of the neo-con policy. Cheney tried to give him up as a scapegoat, and now he's squeeling like a pig! And if they aren't careful, he'll give up everything.

I fear that he will end up as some kind of hero for giving it all up and finally collapsing the Bush House of Cards. Truth is, he's one of the scumbags.

[wishlist]

18. Bush can pardon Libby before the trial but Fitz may indict others too

Libby lied to delay the investigation and prevent anything damaging from coming out before the 2004 election. Bush owes him for that and with Bush being implicated now, he has a strong motive for pardoning Libby before any more damaging info comes out against Bush and Cheney. Presidential pardons can be issued before a trial.

The first Pres Bush pardoned Caspar Weinberger before Cap went to trial over Iran Contra.

The big complication to a pardon though is who else is in the crosshairs of Patrick Fitzgerald's investigation and what else does Fitz have up his sleeve that implicates others and would make a pardon damaging to Bush and Republicans? Bush's Daddy though got out of hot water by pardoning people over Iran Contra so the truth never came out and damage control was achieved.

[Beetwasher]

19. Yes

No doubt about it in my mind. Can you imagine Chimpy on the witness stand? Do you think he'd EVER face Fitz in a courtroom? Can you IMAGINE that scene? No way.

[ObaMania]

20. Why pardon?

He's gonna get off scot-free!

And I was reminded of this today as I listened to R*O*V*E speaking on CSPAN today to a group of Repuke lawyers about fair elections.

These motherfuckers are beyond reproach.

Honestly, we're all screwed.