Shall we rehash the delightful pardons of Bush I? Who, when, why, and under what procedures?
Nah, too easy.
UPDATE: well, how about just a little. Digby helps out:
My favorite thing about the Christmas Eve pardons was the fact that C. Boyden Gray went to the recipients and ASKED them if they'd like to be pardoned??? They didn't even have to apply. Talk about going outside the process!!!
And even more funny, considering what came later, was Poppy's public statement in which he showed such compassion for victims of the special prosecutor laws.
"the five have already paid the price — in depleted savings, lost careers, anguished families — grossly disproportionate to any misdeeds or errors of judgment they may have committed."
But, then they weren't suspected of felonious fellatio, either, so you can't hold them to the same standard as the Lothario in chief. His anguished family had to read a delightful Barbara Cartland style account of his furtive sexual exploits on the Internet, thanks to Kenny Boy Starr.
No, the Christmas eve pardons didn't just "short circuit" the pardon process, they avoided it altogether. And their main purpose was to "short circuit" the criminal justice process. Poppy was about to be nailed for perjury.
Shhhh. Don't tell anybody.
