Libby Commutation

President Bush has issued Lewis Scooter Libby a commutation of his 30 month prison sentence, while leaving in place the $250,000.00 fine, and his probation. Those on the left are screaming that this is somehow a miscarriage of justice and we even have the likes of a liar, Joseph Wilson, calling for an investigation into the Presidents actions.

I hate to break the news to Mr. Wilson, but the Presidents ability to grant a pardon, commutation of a sentence is granted under Article II, Section 2 of the United States Constitution and there is no authority to reverse such action. His decision in these matters is absolute. Congress can whine, they can dance, they can scream, they can hollar, hell they can hold hearings from now until doomsday and the fact of the matter is it will not change the Libby Commutation one iota.

President Bush has issued far fewer pardons and commutations than any President in history; we can compare that to the 456 that President Clinton issued, a vast majority of them during his last days in office. Jimmy Carter issued over 500 pardons and commutations, and let us not forget the king of Democrats, Franklin D. Roosevelt who issued an overwhelming 3,687 pardons and commutations during his terms in office.

We can contrast this with the 77 issued by George H. W. Bush and the 406 by Ronald Reagan.

Its a common practice for Presidents to issue pardons and commutations, and to call this anything more is just playing politics.

It seems the Democrats are forgetting history, is that just a lapse in memory or convenience?