Showing posts with label President Bush. Show all posts
Showing posts with label President Bush. Show all posts

Tuesday 25 November 2008

Everyone's lining up for a George Dubbya 'closing down sale' presidential pardon

I've always found US presidential pardons a fascinating subject - Jimmy Hoffa, Richard Nixon, Deep Throat, Caspar Weinberger, Marc Rich and Patty Hearst received them to name just a few.
Outgoing presidents often hand out these pardons as they pack their bags to leave the White House for the last time.
Already George Dubbya is getting a request or two according to media reports and Conrad Black, Michael Milken, Marion Jones, John Michael Lindh, Scooter Libby have all been mentioned as possible lucky dip winners.


Bill Clinton is often accused of having been profligate in handing out
140 'going away' pardons on his final day.
Including one for his brother Roger with the convenient cover of "aiding and assisting in the preparation and filing of a false corporate tax return", which is not a good look in Hillary's bid for Secretary of State in the Obama Administration.

But David Latt at The Huffington Post wonders if Bush may have to go even further and pardon virtually everyone who worked for him given the constitutional and human rights excesses during his tenure and concludes:
"So, the question of the hour is: Who will President Bush pardon before he leaves office? Will he put himself at the top of the list?"

Sunday 2 November 2008

Best short obits for the Bush Presidency seen so far

Bush poster from Chuckman's Cartoon Comments

Bush is pure poison, the most unpopular president in the history of opinion polling.
He will leave office on January 20 with a record of presiding over two recessions, and starting two wars that he could not finish. This amounts to a record of failure unmatched by any president.
Peter Hartcher writing in The Canberra Times on Saturday 1 November 2008

GEORGE BUSH is constitutionally barred from running for office next week, but you might be pleased to hear that his name will still appear on the ballot in at least one part of the United States. The people of San Francisco will be asked to approve an initiative to rename a city landmark. Proposition R proposes giving the Oceanside Water Pollution Control Plant a new title: the George W. Bush Sewage Plant.
Gerard Baker writing in The Times online 1 November 2008

"Bring them on."
George W. Bush recklessly responding to the beginnings of the Iraqi insurgency in the Orlando Sentinel 1 November 2003

"This nation has always gone to war reluctantly."
George Dubbya having a revisionist moment on CNN 11 November 2003