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The Spectacle Blog
I just can’t seem to get off this topic. The question is, what could possibly possess Bush to refuse to pardon Libby? The more I think about it, the more I come up with bad or even unethical motives by Bush. I will not indulge them here, at least not now, because it is speculation of this sort that leads the nut-roots on the left to make all sorts of baseless allegations. But do let it be said that many reports now are that a number of influential people did try to convince Bush to make the pardon — and I feel sure that Cheney found a way to let his own feelings be known — but that Bush was just unmoveable.
One wonders if he would have been similarly unmoveable if the person who had been wrongly convicted was one of Bush’s own inner circle like Rove or Miers or Gonzales or Bartlett. One tends to think the answer is “no” — that Bush would instead have told all the nattering nabobs to go bleep themselves while he issued the pardons.
From first to last, like father like son, the Bushes show too MUCH loyalty to their personal inner circle and to their top sycophants, and too LITTLE loyalty to those who serve them ably but at one remove from the inner circle. Thus did John Ashcroft get sent out to catch spears with almost no White House backing, while Alberto Gonzo was allowed to stay far too long. Thus was Scott McClellan of the Texas gang allowed to bumble his way through even though he was manifestly unsuited for the job of press secretary. Thus was Harriet Miers chosen for the high court on a purely “trust me” basis while others far more qualified were overlooked. And so on.
It is worth noting that Fitzgerald also had Karl Rove in his sights before a last-minute discovery by Rove’s team proved Rove’s innocence. Even then, Fitz was quite obviously reluctant to let Rove off the hook. Bush now reportedly thinks the execrable Fitz did a good job with the whole case. Did it become good in Bush’s mind only once Rove was cleared?
The sad thing is, not even historians will be able to pardon Bush for the absolute mess he made of his presidency on so many fronts — the last of which, the front of justice and decency with regards to clemency, is truly unforgiveable.
View all comments (14) | Leave a comment
More Blog Posts by Quin Hillyer
http://spectator.org/blog/2009/01/22/another-note-on-cheneylibby
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ruth| 1.22.09 @ 2:15PM
I agree with you Quin, Bush is an enigma. So much of the mess we are in is self-made and just so unnecessary. Another major frustration for me is Bush's outrageous immigration policy. This man was the governor of a border state and he has to be aware of the chaos that has resulted from lax border enforcement. Maybe those from the northern states don't quite understand the scope of destruction, but Bush should. I live in So. California, I do.
Reagan's Ghost| 1.22.09 @ 3:19PM
LOST, Amnesty I and II, open borders next to what is now about to be a "failed state" during two wars against "world-wide terrorism", NCLB and the Kennedy Education Bill, funding of Fatah to the tune of $120 billions, the complete failure to stop both NKorean and Iran nuke programs, the sweet love for KGB Putin, the ballooning of the budget to the largest expenditure(under 6 years of Republican complete power)EVER IN THE HISTORY OF THE COUNTRY. The utter failure to recognize the Harriet Miers nomination as a disastrous pick until literally forced by the country to back out of it, the celebration of Ramadan in an Islamic mosque, several times, and the public statement that Jehovah and Allah were the same, the refusal to lift his daddy's offshore oil drilling ban until the last ten minutes of his presidency, the taking of the Texas courts before the Supreme Court, with the Hague, on behalf of a double murdering rapist illegal alien, the signing of the Constitution-crushing McVain-Feingold, McVain-Kennedy, and McVain-Lieberman atrocities, the call for Americans to burn food in their gas tanks to save us from the global warming hoax, at the altar of goddess Gaia, the handing-over of TARP to the sole digression of one Democrat, Paulson; the Stimulus Package, the Bailout Bill, TARP, support of the initial S-CHIP II, the criticism of conservatives over their "zenophobic racism" when they wished to hold up the LAW, the failure to enforce the Border Fence Bill after he signed its MANDATES into LAW, the covering for his buddies Johnnie Sutton and the judge in their Kangaroo Court to prosecute Border Patrol agents for doing their jobs(an impeachable offense if ever their was one), tentative support of the original DREAM Act, the consistence extortion of Israel to cede its lands to Palestinian terrorists for a "peace" those terrorists have sworn will NEVER be...and on and on it goes.
Here is a liberal who masqueraded as a *conservative*, who took my name in vain every time he used it!
Dan| 1.22.09 @ 5:19PM
I think the whole damn Bush family ought to be tossed from the GOP.
And GW burned in effigy at our next convention.
But as bad as Quin's indictment of Bush is, he's STILL pulling his punches.
Once Tehran goes nuke, once they're allowed to perfect and complete their Manhattan Project, and once all of us are living with the shadow of Tehran's mushroom cloud overstretching us all, only then will the ULTIMATE disaster of GW's tenure be clear to one and all.
The Bush family will be recalled in our history as one of the signal disasters ever to befall our beloved country.
Alan Brooks| 1.22.09 @ 6:57PM
lets send illegal hispanics to live in Bob's, Jeremiah's, and interlooper's neighborhoods.
hilarity to ensue.
Alan Brooks| 1.22.09 @ 7:05PM
oh yes, the thread:
go figure...
illegals get amnesty. Gitmo detainees will get a cushy deal elsewhere, but Libby gets prison or at least legal quicksand. that's almost vicious.
i think you are correct about Bush, he was SUPERHACK.
Alan Brooks| 1.22.09 @ 7:07PM
oh and btw, Jeremiah is a weaselly cad of a demented losel.
Have A Nice Day :)
thirteen28| 1.22.09 @ 7:19PM
I think the motive is just pure gutlessness on W's part. While he may have shown some guts in standing up to America's enemies (but could have shown more, as your own Jeremy Lott wrote the other day in 'Machiavelli's Revenge'), W was a complete and utter wimp when dealing with his domestic political enemies. Far easier to sit on his hands and let Libby get railroaded than to stand up forcefully against those who were trying to do said railroading ... after all, that would be going against the 'new tone'.
Alan Brooks| 1.22.09 @ 7:47PM
Bush was perhaps like a Roman Emperor-- like one of the last...
Carol O'Brien| 1.23.09 @ 8:22PM
It's time to move on. Let's hear about where we are now, and what we're going to do about it,. Obama is our best shot, and we're very lucky that he's our President. The words "Bush" and Cheney", "Libby" etc., make me weary.
Sara123| 1.23.09 @ 9:59PM
There is surely something odd about George W. 's world. Why are we producing candidates where we get to choose between dumb or dumber time after time? I am sick of this!
ruth| 1.26.09 @ 3:27AM
Obama is dumbest.
sidnee| 12.12.09 @ 12:01PM
jack wills
ugg new arrivals