Pardon Bingo: Who Will Be W's Pardon Surprise?

With three days left, who will benefit from the power of the Pardon? Maybe a whole bunch


By Frank Grimes


The President of United States has a great power that is used sparingly and usually only in the waning days of power. Of course we are talking of the constitutional power of the pardon.

The first Bush pardoned convicted-felon and former secretary of defense Caspar Weinberger for his role in the Iran-Contra scandal. Clinton pardoned convicted felon and fugitive Marc Rich.

It has long been said Bush I pardoned Weinberger so as to protect himself from any criminal prosecution in the Iran-Contra matter. Clinton's pardon was crass as Rich's wife had heartily contributed to his campaign.

With just three days left, who will GWB pardon? Speculation ranges from baseball player and fellow Texan Roger Clemens to Scooter Libby.

Interestingly, current attorney general Michael B. Mukasey has said that Eric Holder's (Obama's nominee for attorney general) opinion that waterboarding is torture, could put several Justice Department in lawyers at risk of criminal prosecution.

When asked at his confirmation hearing about possible criminal indictments regarding torture, Holder said that "no one’s above the law, and we will follow the evidence, the facts, the law, and let that take us where it should.”

Given this tidbit, is it possible that GWB will issue a sort of blanket preemptive-pardon to everyone associated with the directive to conduct torture, ranging from John Yoo up to and including himself and Cheney? While the constitutionality of such as move is murky, don't forget this same president who attached signature statements exempting himself from laws he didn't agree with including anti-torture legislation pushed by former tortured POW Sen. John McCain.

One way or another, we will know in less than 72 hours.