Opinion: A pesky problem for the Republican field
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
The Democrats may have a problem explaining just how much quicker than the other guy they would withdraw American troops from Iraq. But that pales to the quandary Republican presidential candidates face over whether the vice president’s former chief of staff with the dumb nickname should be pardoned for his perjury conviction, as The Times’ Peter Wallsten reported earlier this month.
Generally known as the party of law and order, Republicans like former federal prosecutor Rudy Giuliani take pride in their tough anti-crime stance. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney often boasts he granted not one pardon during his four-year administration because he didn’t want to overturn the decision of a dutiful jury.
As Politico.com’s Roger Simon points out, this No stance even applied to Anthony Circosta, who at age 13 shot another child in the arm with a BB-gun. Circosta later graduated from college, served honorably in the National Guard in Iraq and sought a pardon so he could become a policeman. Romney said no.
Yet now Romney and virtually the entire field of Republican presidential hopefuls--except for Jim Gilmore, a former state attorney general, and Ron Paul--say they would at least consider a pardon for Lewis Scooter Libby. Rudy Giuliani, once an ardent prosecutor of perjury, says the judge’s ‘excessive punishment’ exceeding guidelines ‘argues more in favor of a pardon.’ Romney says he would study one.
Non-candidate Fred Thompson, who isn’t a prosecutor but plays one on TV, said he would ‘absolutely’ grant Libby a pardon as the victim of a ‘gross injustice.’ Conservative publications stoke the flames of controversy. The National Review calls Libby ‘a dedicated public servant caught in a crazy political fight that should never have happened, convicted of lying about a crime that the prosecutor can’t even prove was committed.’
Sen. John McCain and the other GOP candidates said they wanted to review the record before deciding. And President Bush, who has a variety of legal options short of his absolute pardon powers, has not indicated his opinion pending the appeal, though he may be forced into some action if Libby is jailed during the ongoing proceedings. Some kind of respite or sentence suspension might cause a brief storm in the current Washington climate of global acrimony, but it would please many in Bush’s disaffected conservative base.
Chances are, one way or the other, the next president will not be faced with a decision on the matter anyway. Bush, like Bill Clinton and many presidents before him, can issue a parcel of pardons on his way out the door in January, 2009. And, pardon me, but who today remembers what any of those were about?
--Andrew Malcolm