Other Crap

No prison for Scooter

Important facts that almost everyone will miss:

Libby is NOT pardoned. He is a convicted felon. He has to pay his fine and serve his probation. Only his jail time has been commuted.

In this case, our Constitution failed us. The Constitution grants the President unlimited pardoning powers except in cases of impeachment. The authors of the document did not think to exclude cases where the President has a vested interest or some other conflict-of-interest position. Let's discuss it hypothetically, to eliminate the political component. President So-and-so is just about to be caught in a crime. Prosecutors have nabbed the President's co-conspirator, have him in a vise, and are about to cut a deal with him. In exchange for a reduced charge or even immunity, the co-conspirator has to rat on the Prez. Only one problem - the President can pardon the would-be rat, thus loosening the vise. The Constitution grants the President the right to do this! Should it? Personally, I don't think so.

Bringing it to the specifics of modern politics, President Clinton clearly had the constitutional right to pardon his personal friend Susan McDougal, and President Bush clearly had the right to commute the jail sentence of Dick Cheney's personal friend Scooter Libby. But it seems to me that the President's constitutional pardon power should be limited by amendment to exclude certain cases like this.