Republicans and pardons

So they can continue business as usual.

Digby of Hullabaloo:

Presidential fingerprints are already on this case, as everybody knows, and which historians will have no problem finding. After all, Libby worked in the white house and was a special counsel to both the president and vice president. I don't think we need to worry about the "case" against the Bush administration's Iraq lies dying with Libby's prison sentence. It's a pretty big case.

The idea that Republicans paid a price for their previous pardons is laughable. In fact, they paid such a huge price that one of the people Bush senior pardoned is working in the white house today! The "political significance" was that it encouraged Republicans to commit crimes while in office knowing that there will be no price to pay. I'm not sure why Democrats should find this a positive, but that's just me.

Ever since Nixon, the Republicans have been getting away with criminal behavior when they are in power. Nixon was allowed to resign and was pre-emptively pardoned. His minions all took their punishment like men, however, and did their time without complaints. But that was the last time. After the multiple crimes committed in Iran-Contra --- big ones, to do with national security and unconstitutional executive power-grabs --- the Republicans decided they had nothing to lose by pardoning their criminal underlings and so they did.

Once Bill "he's not my president" Clinton was elected, the rules changed of course, and they tried to run him out of office with endless partisan witch hunts and impeachment over consensual sexual behavior. For the coup de grace, they had a full-blown hissy fit over his pardon of Marc Rich --- who was represented by Scooter Libby! Now they are clutching their pearls once again about a Republican being the victim of the long arm of the law and the pundits (and now some Democrats) are whining about how he must never see the inside of a jail because he is such a fine fellow and the horrible Republican appointed prosecutor was out to get him.

So excuse me for being skeptical that a pardon will somehow blow back on Bush. Of course it won't. Bush will instead be (temporarily, perhaps) rehabilitated by his party and considered a thoughtful statesmanlike gentleman by the press for having the compassion and decency to spare someone of Scooter's superior humanity from rubbing shoulders with hoi polloi.

Obviously pardons work just for Republicans, not for Democrats. I mean, what is more jail worthy, a blow job or perjury and obstruction of justice? Some of these questions just answer themselves....