Who will Bush* pardon on his way out? Martha Stewart?

[mediaman007]

Like he would even consider it. (Stewart being a Democrat, I think.)

Can guys like Negroponte get two pardons in their lifetime?

[WI_DEM]

1. He'll give a blanket pardon to everyone in his administration

for any crimes and misdemeanors they may have committed from January 20, 2001-January 20, 2005.

[theorist]

3. Don't forget all of his Enron buddies. n/t

[napi21]

7. Sure the Enron guys already indited, but can he pardon someone

like Ken Lay, who I'm sure would top his list? I thought that was one reason Lay wanted his trial to begin asap.

[BrotherBuzz]

11. ASAP might be after Nov 02 but

before Jan 20th if you know what I mean. ;)

[theorist]

16. A president can pardon someone who has not been indicted.

The only limitation is that a pardon cannot be applied to an impeachment. I believe Carter granted pardons to the Viet Nam era draft dodgers. Bush the forty-first pardoned all involved in the Iran-Contra scandal (much to Kerry's chagrin, I'm sure). bush* may go crazy with pardon power. Wouldn't it be great if he got caught selling pardons?

[hlthe2b]

2. probably a blanket prospective pardon....

of any Rethuglican, anytime, for anything in the future...:mad:

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. Martha is a Democrat, so she's screwed.

But he'd try to prospectively pardon his entire administration, who all ought to be prosecuted for war crimes and treason.

[wryter2000]

5. The Skillings

He'll pardon anyone in trouble because of Enron and leave Martha in prison. (A year ago, if anyone had told me I'd ever feel sorry for Martha Stewart, I would have laughed in his/her face.)

[drb]

6. Scooter Libby, for one...

[calico1]

8. Martha is a Democrat

and she donates lots of her money to Democratic campaigns. That's why she is in jail and Kenny Boy is not. I suspect he will be on the top of the list of people he pardons.

[alphafemale]

9. Rush n/t

[leftylefty]

10. Robert Novak

and anyone else having to do with outing Valerie Plame........
That is, if they get to the bottom of it by Jan 20.

[aden_nak]

12. Kenny Boy will cop a plea, and then be pardoned.

[TwilightZone]

13. Martha was an administration "success", so there's no way he'd pardon her.

I'm surprised that the Bush Admin hasn't been more aggressively using her as an "example" of their tough stance on corporate crime. The Justice Department made a big deal out of it, but Bush hasn't said much.

What a joke. She saved $40,000 in losses that she would have saved anyway had she kept the stock through the downturn and she goes to jail. Ken Lay screws people out of billions and gets away with it.

Edit: and, yes, he will pardon Ken Lay and his Enron buddies.

[bobbobbins]

14. i think this whole pardoning nonsense should end

if a person is convicted, the president shouldn't have the power to overrule the judicial system on a whim to help his buddies

[RaleighNCDUer]

15. The pardons are important, and can correct many injustices --

That said, I think that members of the outgoing president's administration should be ineligible. If the next administration wants to pardon them, they'll at last have done some time. (This still wouldn't keep them from coming back, like the Iran-contra criminals did, unfortunately.)

[forgethell]

17. It's in the Constitution

Maybe you can get an amendment passed. But the power was meant to be able to correct injustices