July 4, 2007

(South Carolina) - I can't believe that so many really good editorialists are not explaining WHY the President of the United States has the right and privilege of having the absolute power to pardon all convicts for any circumstance. (Article II, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution gives the president "Power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment.") It is equally odd that no-one has pointed out that what W did for Scooter Libby in commuting his sentence is precisely the reason the founding fathers fought to put the power in the constitution to begin with..

Politics.

South Carolina's John Pinckney - who wrote the majority of the Declaration of Independence, contrary to popular opinion - was adamant that democracy would have a final, vicious consequence. Whether from friendship or party affiliation or greed or tragic heroism, or force of the majority, Pinckney knew that the law could be bent to fill the vacuum of personal volition. At some point, a conviction would be the result of politics - it was inevitable. Since, as liberals have drawn comfort from since the 50's, the law is awesomely unrelenting, Pinckney knew the law would eventually become the awesomely oppressive tool of whoever placed the jurists. He knew that politics would eventually rule the third branch of the government. History proved him right, almost from the beginning. USConstitution.net reminds us "that President George Washington used the pardon power after the suppression of the Whiskey Rebellion on 1794," in an amazing act of forgiveness of libertarians who acted like libertarians.

In the case of Scooter Libby, there was no crime. Even I knew Valerie Plame wasn't a covert CIA operative at the time she was "outed" by someone other than Scooter Libby. Nobody was sharp enough to note that her husband was sent to Africa by HER - and when he came back, he lied about what the government did and did not know. It was an attempt to falsely discredit the Bush administration over the causes of the Second Iraq War. What Libby did was, some time during the six hour harrangue by the Special Prosecutor, said something that wasn't true. The Special Prosecutor did not allow him to make the correction. The SP then misused the grand jury system - you know what I think of this abusive institution - to cause Libby to be convicted in a federal court. These are facts.

Unless you are so naive that you think socialists are good-hearted people with great ideas, you will see the politics oozing from the pores of this case. This was a "get-back." And that is precisely why the President commuted his sentence, and why, if Libby is wrongly adjudicated in his appeal - and he may be, he will pardon him completely.

It's why it's in the Constitution.

And just for giggles, here is a list of the South Carolinians, pardoned by President Clinton - some for fairness, some for friends, some for politics:

• Thomas Peter Stathakis - conv.1976 - Selling and delivering firearms to out-of-state resident and falsifying firearms records.
• Linda Bailey Byars - conv.1975 - Bank embezzlement.
• Daniel Clifton Gilmour, Jr. - conv.1985 - Importation of marijuana.
• Michael Lee Gilmour - conv.1985 - Importation of marijuana.
• Horace Carroll Smith - conv.1992 - Conspiracy to violate the federal securities laws.
• Robert Alexander Warr - conv.1982 - False statements, 18 U.S.C. §§ 1001 and 2.
• James William Rogers - conv.1983 (as modified) - Conspiracy to commit racketeering.
• Charles Z. Yonce, Jr. - conv.1988 - Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine and aiding and abetting.
• William Sterling Anderson - conv.1987 - Conspiracy to defraud a federally insured financial institution, false statements to a federally insured financial institution, wire fraud.
• Leonard Browder - conv.1990 - Illegal dispensing of controlled substance and Medicaid fraud.
• Charles D. "Pug" Ravenel - conv.1996 - Conspiring to defraud the United States.
• Richard Wilson Riley, Jr. - conv.1993 - Conspiring to possess with intent to distribute and to distribute marijuana and cocaine.

Oh, and let's not forget that Senator Hillary Clinton told a falsehood to the grand jury, in the exactly the same way as did Libby, about her role in "Travelgate," in 1994. We all know why she was not prosecuted.

The point is this:
You may or may not like what the President did. But, for many reasons, he has the right to do it. It is also the perfect example of "whose ox is gored?" and is another strength put into the Constitution by those old, white, male, former Brits, who perpetually prove that they were smarter than anyone will ever be again.

- Dick Anderson