How often has anything the Bush adminstration said ever been true?

I laughed out loud - and I don't mean figuratively!

Tactically, not pardoning the big fish like Cheney et al (the whole sordid cabal of Bu'ushist war criminals) permits them to continue to stonewall via the 5th Amendment. It'd be like "yeah, bring it on, just try to prosecute..."

Pardons effectively admit guilt. They're never gonna admit to having done anything criminally wrong. They merely experienced some "disappointments," and vague "mistakes were made," but by no one identifiably culpable, of course.

MOTUS already made the deal that there will be no prosecutions.

What if Dems show some backbone and decide to... aww I guess its not such a big gamble after all.

But my first thought was this was no surprise. Bush has rarely shown any sense of sincere compassion and isn't exactly the guy who would do anyone any favors. It's always been all about him. The Scooter commutation was only made under pressure from Cheney and his own fear of what Libby could do if he didn't commute the sentence. Still, he didn't pardon him and he didn't pardon the two border guards, only commuted the sentences. The convictions stand.

Maybe there will be a last minute flurry of pardons at the 11th hour. Maybe the other letter writer is correct and it is to preserve their sense of 5th Amendment rights or hubris though, asserting such privilege in the future is no less tantamount to an acknowledgment of potential guilt. Bush lives to destroy and then walk away without a single regret. Not issuing any pardons just follows in his normal infantile mold.

Being President is hard work!

Please post a follow-up on Wednesday, Mr. Koppelman.

Obama has already stated publicly that America needs to "look forward" and there will be no investigation, let alone prosecutions of Bush junta crimes. God only knows what he's promised in private.

When the new boss (same as the old?) signals that government employees can break the law with impunity why the hell bother to pardon the crimes of the past.

It would be like giving an electric blanket to the sun to keep it warm or buying a bucket of white paint for a bushel of rice....

After W. Bush flees tomorrow in his last helicopter (remember that last helicopter out of Saigon?), after high noon tomorrow, then we can speculate. Until then, stay tuned. Hardon me? Cow's ass? I cunt hear you. I have an infucktion in my ear.

Unless Mr. Libby gets his pardon, he can never practice law again. Then again he will likely pull in a seven figure income on the rightwing talk circuit anyway: As long as he defends the Bush doctrine 100% of the time.

Should Mr. Libby ever slip, or write a tell-all book, he can be prosecuted. So this may be a win-win-win situation ($'s for Libby - Silence on what happened - the 5th Amendment if asked).

These people don't beleive they did anything wrong. Why would they feel the need to be pardoned? I bet Bush doesn't realize there actually is a huge movement to get him arrested in the first place. That's how out of touch with reality this adminstration has been.

more accurately defined as "torture," all involved are essentially already "pardoned" by the Military Commissions Act.

Look it up. MCA lets all of them off the hook preemptively, so on the torture issue, some legal experts believe there is no reason for pardons.

so on the torture issue, some legal experts believe there is no reason for pardons.

Yes, but those "legal experts" are no longer going to be in style starting tomorrow. Meanwhile, the Convention Against Torture renders those opinions irrelevant.

My bet: Yoo, Addington and a few others may end up seeing some convictions on this, but all the big fish will go free.

1. Some rich foundation or thinktank can empanel an investigation. They can hire somebody good to run it, e.g. that guy who prosecuted Libby Libby Libby.

2. The Obama administration can allow access, can cooperate quietly.

3. Two years from now, the investigation can report.

4. At that time, the Obama adminstration can set up an official commission to investigate the investigation.

5. Four years from now, after Obama's re-election, his administration can prosecute and turn the creeps over to the international courts.

Please think about this:

If G.W. Bush or Dick Cheney were guys who lived down the street from you... If they were neighborhood guys... and they tortured stray cats and dogs in their garages...

You would call the cops. And you would want them out of your neighborhood stat.

This is just kooky neighborhood animal abuse. How can you justify their human-being torture? They really did it. You are lucky if your kids have Anglo-Saxon names, rather than Middle Eastern names. Or do they?

It's hard to believe that Bush won't pardon himself, Cheney, Rove, Gonzales, Libby, Rumsfeld, Gail Norton, Monica Goodling, Brad Schlozmann, Ritchie Perle, Paul Wolfowitz, all from his administration, plus convicted congressmen Bob Ney and Duke Cunninghan as well as targets of investigations such as Representatives Virgil Goode, Kathy Harris, Rich Pombo, Jerry Lewis and Rick Rienzi. Senator Ted Stevens is also likely to get a pass. Israeli spies Jonathan Pollard and Larry Franklin could also get a "get out of jail free" card and maybe even David Safavian "merits" one. Who have I missed? Perhaps convicted terrorists Dr. Orlando Bosch and Luis Posada Carriles.

Congressman Don Young also could use a pardon about now.