Senate tells Bush not to pardon Libby

Associated Press (excerpt) ^ | July 20, 2007 | JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS

[HAL9000]

Excerpt -

WASHINGTON - A brawl over presidential pardons punctured the normally courtly ambiance of the Senate on Thursday night, but Republicans and Democrats agreed to bury the hatchet and erase the evidence before the sun rose Friday.

In the heat of a partisan spat, Democrats forced a vote on a nonbinding measure to instruct President Bush not to pardon former vice presidential aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby. But there's no record of the 47-49 vote in the daily record of congressional proceedings — or anywhere else.

That's because senators agreed less than an hour later to undo their vote and pretend it had never happened.

~ snip ~

[conservativehusker]

If I were Bush I’d pardon him today!

[Dog]

They don’t get a vote on the matter.

[God luvs America]

I’d love to see the tally on this vote versus the those who voted admonishing clinton against the marc rich pardon...

[gov_bean_ counter]

Every day the Senate is looking more and more like a Monty Python skit and less like a governing body.

UNRING THE BELL!!

[mware]

wow, I guess someone in the senate figured out they do not have the authority to tell him who he can pardon and not pardon.

[freespirited]

All growed up, aren’t they?

[marvlus]

It’s getting stir-crazy in Congress these days!

[Suzy Quzy]

Ok......Cheney can pardon him TOMORROW! Now THAT would be FUNNY!! Heads exploding everywhere!

[goldstategop]

Congress can't tell a President whom to pardon or not. Its an executive prerogative beyond legislative review. And its also a violation of the clear separation of powers between the legislative and executive branches of the federal government.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[mware]

Not that it matter to them, but I didnt think they had the power to change the congressional record.

[MaestroLC]

Maybe the Senate should fund our troops first...

[stefanbatory]

Did they count the undervotes, pregnant chads and hanging chads? What about my old college roomate Chad? Lake Chad? the nation of Chad? what about undertows? underdogs? underwear? I suppose that depends on who’s running the show...

sorry...it’s friday afternoon...

[ping jockey]

Check me if I am wrong but was it not the legislative branch that gave the Executive branch the right to pardons and sentence commutations.

[avacado]

"Ok......Cheney can pardon him TOMORROW! Now THAT would be FUNNY!! Heads exploding everywhere!"

Now that would be funny! I would have to camp out with popcorn over at DU & Kos Land for that.

[Graymatter]

Have you EVER-—!!!
No really. Has this ever happened before? I can’t think of a historical precedent.

[Red Badger]

The President’s pardoning authority is ABSOLUTE........

[twonie]

I’d give $200. to see Cheney pardon him tomorrow - in the Rose Garden on TV, with Cheney carrying a shotgun.

[doorgunner69]

And its also a violation of the clear separation of powers between the legislative and executive branches of the federal government.

The rats have shown a complete disregard for that little detail. They are in a frenzy to try and influence W in any way they can.

[twonie]

WEll, you know that and I know that - now somebody please go in and tell the senators that.

[agere_contra]

120 minutes of Cheney! Please God he writes three pardons and gets all unilateral on the Southern Border.

[dead]

But there's no record of the 47-49 vote in the daily record of congressional proceedings — or anywhere else.

It was an unvote by an uncongress.

[Red Badger]

Check me if I am wrong but was it not the legislative branch that gave the Executive branch the right to pardons and sentence commutations.

No, it was the Constitutional Convention. The founding fathers did it.........for good reason......

[tobyhill]

OK everyone, it never happened! /sarc

[jeddavis]

Bush should call a prime time press conference and SELL Scooter a pardon for $20 and use the 20 to send out for pizza, and tell every demokkkrat in the world to go **** themselves.

[txflake]

And Ramos and Campeon, too! And get rid of Mookie & Olmert!
He’s got a 2 1/2 hr. window. Use it!

[FoxInSocks]

"If the Senate has decided to go into debating the appropriateness of future pardons, there is plenty of material to go around on past pardons," said Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the minority leader.

Read about this in another article, which had more detail.

McConnell then "proceeded to maneuver the Senate clerk into reading off the laundry list of Clinton administration pardons, including those of Marc Rich and others." It referred to Harry Reid getting "Mitchslapped."

[Lurker]

You're wrong.

L

[rocksblues]

It’s all being orchestrated by Move-On, the Senate Democrats are so afraid of them that they put their limited -—ah never mind.

[tobyhill]

Senate erases Libby pardon vote from record
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19873167/

There, it’s erased because MSNBC says so.

[MeanWestTexan]

Talk about ignorance of the separation of powers.

Have these morons ever READ the Constitution.

[TonyInOhio]

This happened right after Dingy Harry got Mitchslapped.

No wonder he wanted the record erased. :)

[eleni121]

One Two slam dunk!

Pardon the two border agents proudly and then Libby— immediately!

[PEACE ENFORCER]

“With that, the Senate got back down to business and completed the education bill in the wee hours of Friday morning.”
.
Conclusion...Senate accomplishes nothing other than making government “grab-bag” bigger, thus creating more government theft, paid for by...you guessed it, Joe Taxpayer.

[MeanWestTexan]

No, it’s the Constitution.

[Izzy Dunne]

Check me if I am wrong but was it not the legislative branch that gave the Executive branch the right to pardons and sentence commutations.

Wrong.

It wasn't given by the legislative branch at all but by Article II, section 2 of Old Faithful.

[Redcloak]

For more laughs, read this account of the day's Mitchslapping.

[A_Tradition_Continues]

It was an unvote by an uncongress.

Who voted for it before they voted against it?

[zencat]

Erase a pointless vote, on a matter they don’t control about a future event.

Jeez, oh how I love Congress. I’m really glad they’re up there looking out for us.

[Vaquero]

Every day the Senate is looking more and more like a Monty Python skit and less like a governing body.

[JRochelle]

You gotta love the AP.

They couldn’t say Clinton pardoned terrorists if their life depended on it.

They called them a Puerto Rican nationalist group, not what they were, terrorists.

[DustyMoment]

Funny, I don’t recall the Senate telling Clinton not to pardon terrorists, thieves and thugs. It seems to me that Bush commuting one person’s sentence (Libby) for whom the fundemental investigation could discover no perpetrators is not a big deal.

When a judge dismisses the lawsuit of the alleged “victim” because there was no “there” there, it is appropriate for Bush to commute or even pardon Libby.

Reid and the rest of the defeatocrat-run Senate need something more to occupy their time than a 100% full court press of BDS.

[Kevmo]

We have entered a new political age: The Political Theatre of the Absurd

[secret garden]

Meanwhile, Bush told the Senate to mind their own bidness.

[Calvin Locke]

I recall a number of stories during the Reagan era about 'critters changing their remarks in the Congo Record.

Changing a recorded "vote" is a new one, though.

[HawaiianGecko]

That would certainly jerk a knot in the tail of the party of jackasses.

[WorkerbeeCitizen]

I wasn’t aware that the congress had any say in matters of presidential pardons.

[longtermmemmory]

courtly ambiance?

Seems like the senate suffers some serious case of beltway disease (aka upward crania rectal insertion syndrome)

They are not there to be courtly and elitist, they are there as EMPLOYEES.

[mware]

I know they can strike comments from the record, but never heard of this kind of thing happening.

[MarkT]

Best comment I can remember seeing on FR.