Rove: Pardons And Commutations Are ‘Generally…Not Granted Within Five Years After The Offense’
Rove: Pardons And Commutations Are ‘Generally…Not Granted Within Five Years After The Offense’
On Christmas eve, the White House took the unprecedented step of revoking President Bush’s pardon of housing scam artist Isaac Toussie after media reports revealed a number of improprieties in the case. Attempting to explain the move, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said Toussie’s pardon had not been reviewed by the pardon attorney because “it was filed less than five years from completion of his sentence” and Bush wanted the attorney to “have an opportunity to review this case before a decision on clemency is made.”
In an interview with Fox News on Friday, former Bush adviser Karl Rove echoed Perino and claimed that the Toussie family’s hefty donations to the GOP had nothing to do with the pardon. Rove also said that the fact that Toussie’s offense occurred “less than five years ago” was a factor in the reversal:
ROVE: I think the information that was alluded to was the nature of the offense, the death of the offense, and the fact that it happened less than five years ago. Generally pardons and commutations, except in rare instances, are not granted within five years after the offense.
Watch it:
Rove’s claim that pardons and commutations are “not granted within five years after the offense” is ironic in face of the fact that Bush commuted Scooter Libby’s sentence just four months after he was convicted and before he served any time. At the time, Bush’s statement on the commutation of Libby’s sentence was not described as a “rare instance,” but as “an appropriate exercise” of the president’s power of clemency.
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Until and unless the SCOTUS tells me there are restrictions on the Presidential pardon power, I just don’t care. It’s a constitutional freebie. Sure, we can be mad at him for using it for this or that, but it’s not like he’s doing anything that he doesn’t get to do with the pardons (that being, whatever he wants).
December 29th, 2008 at 1:42 pmAnother day, another lie from Rove.
Not news exactly, but it’s good not to ignore him.
December 29th, 2008 at 1:42 pmBut who will pardon Bush, Cheney, Rove et al. from Hell?
¶ AIO
December 29th, 2008 at 1:48 pmLiars to the very end….
December 29th, 2008 at 1:50 pmDoes the Rove BS machine have an “off” switch? Or are we going to be forced to listen to this crapola for eternity?
I think most people recognize Rove’s utterances for the lies and desperate spin they are, but he apparently still has a following. At least when Fox provides him with a microphone, they assume somebody is listening.
December 29th, 2008 at 1:55 pmI’ll listen to what Rove has to say when he’s sitting in a prison cell. Well, maybe I will.
December 29th, 2008 at 1:59 pmDid Rove get a Pardon under the Christmas tree?
December 29th, 2008 at 1:59 pmYup…its just one of the perks of the position. I just hope he doesn’t try to pardon himself.
December 29th, 2008 at 2:01 pmThere have been over 700 investigations by the Bush justice department into wrong doing by elected officals. 87% of those were Democrats. Karl Rove is behind many of them.
http://video.google.com/videosearch?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4GGIC_enUS229US229&q=Project%20Save%20Justice&um=1&sa=N&tab=wv#
December 29th, 2008 at 2:01 pmGiven that it will take 4 or more years of legal wrangling before Karl finally ends up behind bars, he’ll have been in less than five years by the time Obama finishes his second term. His only hope therefore is to pray a Republican (who doesn’t hold him in complete contempt) gets in the White House in 2016.
December 29th, 2008 at 2:03 pmWhen President Bush issued holiday pardons for 19 miscreants past and present last week, former Cheney chief-of-staff Scooter Libby wasn’t among them. But with the two year campaign by right-wing pundits, GOP politicos and even Republican White House hopefuls now reaching a crescendo, Libby may yet get his slate wiped clean by the outgoing President.
For the details, see:
December 29th, 2008 at 2:16 pm“Begging Libby’s Pardon.”
Rove nows alot about Law now. It did alot while running the Department of Justice as Gonzo just sized what he was told by Karl and Dick Cheney. Now let’s see how Karl explains his pardon for all the crimes he has committed over the pass 8 years. As Karl has threaten the life of Mike Connell and sure enough he was killed, Karl is studing up on Pardons.
December 29th, 2008 at 2:17 pmI am reminded of Macbeth Act 5 Scene 1:
“Out, damned spot! Out, I say!—One: two: why,
then, ’tis time to do’t.—Hell is murky!—Fie, my
lord, fie! a soldier, and afeard?
What need we
fear who knows it, when none can call our power
to account?”
Rove is the spot.
December 29th, 2008 at 2:18 pmDoes anyone even listen to this fat fork anymore?
December 29th, 2008 at 2:34 pmYes, indeed. Commuting the sentence of someone guilty of conspiracy to commit treason, before they even serve one day in prison, is perfectly appropriate for an administration that has no respect for the law. Laws are for the common people, don’t you know? Cheney’s comment regarding Libby’s commutation was most revealing, as long as you substitute “protecting Bush and myself”, for the “vital security interests of the United States and its citizens.” Because that’s exactly all if was about. The NY Times had it right in their op-ed.
UPDATE VIII: Statement from Vice President Cheney: “I have always considered him [Libby] to be a man of the highest intellect, judgment and personal integrity — a man fully committed to protecting the vital security interests of the United States and its citizens. … The defense has indicated it plans to appeal the conviction in the case. Speaking as friends, we hope that our system will return a final result consistent with what we know of this fine man.”
December 29th, 2008 at 2:41 pmElBruce Says:
Until and unless the SCOTUS tells me there are restrictions on the Presidential pardon power, I just don’t care. It’s a constitutional freebie. Sure, we can be mad at him for using it for this or that, but it’s not like he’s doing anything that he doesn’t get to do with the pardons (that being, whatever he wants).
deebaser Says:
Yup…its just one of the perks of the position. I just hope he doesn’t try to pardon himself.
With all due respect, I disagree. The president does not have the constitutional authority to remove his own constitutional responsibilities. He has the constitutional responsibility to take care that the laws be faithfully executed. He cannot, therefore, order someone to break the law (or order someoone to order someone else to break the law) and then pardon them for it, for that would be the exact opposite of taking care that the laws be faithfully executed.
By the argument, he cannot issue a pardon to himself.
December 29th, 2008 at 2:42 pmUPDATE VIII: Statement from Vice President Cheney: “I have always considered him [Libby] to be a man of the highest intellect, judgment and personal integrity — a man fully committed to protecting the vital security interests of the United States and its citizens. … The defense has indicated it plans to appeal the conviction in the case. Speaking as friends, we hope that our system will return a final result consistent with what we know of this fine man.”
I wonder which kinds of books Dick Cheney prefers, the ones about lesbian frontier women (by author Lynne Cheney) or the ones about sex slaves being forced to have sex with bears (by author Scooter Libby)?
December 29th, 2008 at 2:45 pmI can’t stand to look at this pig!
December 29th, 2008 at 2:48 pmIsn’t this an acknowledgment that Bush can not pardon his cronys without there being convictions. I expect blanket pardons for the whole lot of slimy critters and I am vehemently opposed!
December 29th, 2008 at 2:52 pmgus smith Says:
Isn’t this an acknowledgment that Bush can not pardon his cronys without there being convictions. I expect blanket pardons for the whole lot of slimy critters and I am vehemently opposed!
There do not have to be convictions for the president to pardon someone. Ford pardoned Nixon for any crimes he might have committed while in office. Nixon was convicted of nothing in the court of law; in the court of public opinion, most people (Dick Cheney was one notable exception) thought Nixon was a big-time crook.
December 29th, 2008 at 2:58 pmSorry, O’ Unitary Executive, but even Bush cannot revoke a pardon once the Office of the President grants it.
December 29th, 2008 at 3:11 pmThat’s interesting, Matt, but I doubt if it will mean very much to wingnuts.
Readin’ ‘n writin’ aren’t activities they particularly value among us common folk. They’d prefer if we read nothing and watched only Faux News.
December 29th, 2008 at 3:15 pmPresidential pardons are allowed and expected abuse of power. Those criminals lucky enough to experience the abuse first hand are simply favored personally over the thousands of others with the exact same crime against them.
More important, though, it leads to further and more dangerous abuse of power since the crimes go without punishment. The criminal trail from Nixon to Reagan to HWBush to gwbush shows how the offences slide closer and closer to treason, which used to be punishable by death but is now pardoned before sentences even begin.
To top it all, or more appropriately, to bottom it all out, we have this turd stain on the underwear of the country commenting on it when he should’ve been hung–oh about five years ago.
December 29th, 2008 at 3:22 pmralph the wonder llama Says:
Readin’ ‘n writin’ aren’t activities they particularly value among us common folk. They’d prefer if we read nothing and watched only Faux News.
Only the “conservative intellectuals” should be literate. Lord knows what sort of mischief people can get into once they start reading.
December 29th, 2008 at 3:23 pmSomebody please start a station that makes a business out of dissecting their lies 24/7.
December 29th, 2008 at 3:24 pmListening to rove will rot your brain. Turn the television off and step back. If you feel you must watch, complain to the network loudly and often as long as they’re letting him spout lies.
December 29th, 2008 at 3:28 pmInterviewer: “… if it smells like crap, looks like crap, tastes like crap…”
Rove: “Its a cookie!!”
December 29th, 2008 at 3:30 pmSince reversing pardons by the White House seems to be the rage today, especially ones issued short of the five-years-after guideline, then I believe the first act by incoming President Barack Obama should be the rescinding of the pardon given to Richard Nixon by Gerald Ford, since this pardon definitely did not meet White House guidelines for pardons.
If Nixon had gone to jail for his criminal acts, then Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush might have been a little more hesitant when contemplating committing extra-judicial, extra-Constitutional criminal acts while in office…and saved our nation a whole lot of grief in the process.
December 29th, 2008 at 4:21 pmWait, isn’t the Mark Rich pardon that has so upset the repugs one that they claim was granted because of money donated to the dems? After 8 years, they are still hot about it. But this one is OK with them?
As for Libby — Rove must think the public memory is even worse than it truly is.
IOKIYAR.
December 29th, 2008 at 4:54 pmConstitutional Legal answers from Karl Christian Rove ESQ.
December 29th, 2008 at 6:34 pmRove belongs behind bars, rather then on TV. As long as these RepubliCon Criminals are free, they will continue their crimes.
December 29th, 2008 at 7:01 pmI do not give a damn what this fat tub of shit has to say, why does anyone else in the civilized world?
December 29th, 2008 at 7:04 pmDear KKKarl,
If pardons are not normally granted until at least 5 years after the fact, and as pardons are normally channeled through the normal process
Could you please explain to me why this pardon did not go through the normal channels (instead going straight to the prez) and happened less than the normal span of time ?
December 29th, 2008 at 8:38 pmRove should take some advice from Bush for once…
Get off camera and stay off camera until you do have to come on to speak about a crucial matter.
Karl sure is coming apart at the seams quicker than a fat person ruins a pair of spandex pants that are two sizes too small.
December 29th, 2008 at 9:21 pmROVE: “Generally pardons and commutations, except in rare instances, are not granted within five years after the offense.”
TP: “Rove’s claim that pardons and commutations are “not granted within five years after the offense” is ironic…”
Leaving out that little phrase at the beginning of the comment sure changes the meaning. Oh well, the TP faithful won’t mind. ;)
December 30th, 2008 at 12:18 amWhen one crook pardons another, it is not actually a pardon, just an exercise of the Presidents power.
I continue to be amazed that almost daily we are treated to the rambling monologues of Rove. I am not surprised though that there are some media outlets that continue to question him as if he were an honest man with a objective, educated opinion.
He is a criminal. But that doesn’t matter anymore. There are several former criminal government officials that are given space on talk shows. And that alone gives a clue to the state of the media in this country. No wonder our press is ranked so low in the world now. We have nothing going for us but, trash talk, right wing hate talkers and former criminals and plain nuts.
But the sewer accepts everything thrown into it.
December 30th, 2008 at 12:18 amSince when we have a criminal ‘pardon’ other criminals? This country has turned up side down with Bush in power.
December 31st, 2008 at 10:14 pm