Posted on 01/19/2009 9:58:40 AM PST by E.G.C.
Edited on 01/19/2009 10:46:59 AM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]
WASHINGTON – In his final acts of clemency, President George W. Bush on Monday commuted the prison sentences of two former U.S. Border Patrol agents whose convictions for shooting a Mexican drug dealer ignited fierce debate about illegal immigration.
Bush's decision to commute the sentences of Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, who tried to cover up the shooting, was welcomed by both Republican and Democratic members of Congress. They had long argued that the agents were merely doing their jobs, defending the American border against criminals. They also maintained that the more than 10-year prison sentences the pair was given were too harsh.
Rancor over their convictions, sentencing and firings has simmered ever since the shooting occurred in 2005.
Ramos and Compean became a rallying point among conservatives and on talk shows where their supporters called them heroes. Nearly the entire bipartisan congressional delegation from Texas and other lawmakers from both sides of the political aisle pleaded with Bush to grant them clemency.
Bush didn't pardon the men for their crimes, but decided instead to commute their prison sentences because he believed they were excessive and that they had already suffered the loss of their jobs, freedom and reputations, a senior administration official said.
The action by the president, who believes the border agents received fair trials and that the verdicts were just, does not diminish the seriousness of their crimes, the official said...................."
I am not surprised one bit!
There are mitigating factors which make this a generous presidential gesture (spitting on you).
Anyone know why they are still in jail until March 20th?
The reason we now are inaugurating Obama is because of George W. Bush. Let no one forget that. The inane "change" mantra was in fact change of presidents. So all Obama had to run on was that the incumbent was hated. And it resonated well enough to be a winning platform.
Why then was Bush disliked? Because he was too liberal to the extent that he appeared to hate conservatives and conservative principles, in the classic way that Eastern patrician Republican-RINOs hate people like Sarah Palin and real conservatives such as those who write on this site. This made the conservative base mad... (the same base that stayed home and implicitly elected Obama).
But that is not all-- He came across as petty, preening, passive-agressive, and condescending (which pissed everyone off).
A perfect example of this is the fact that he let this Ramos thing go on for so long. There are many other such cases which really infuriated me, for years: He also let Wuterich and the Hadditha Marines hang in the breeze for years (after they had day after day put themselves in extraordinary and excessive danger to try to engage the enemy according to his ridiculous Viet-nam type rules of engagement). He also let that female soldier get eviscerated because of the stupid but harmless fraternity pranks she participated in at that prison.
These instances were signs of Bush's spinelessness, pettiness, bitchiness, and lack of integrity.
Why do I say that? Because war is extremely messy, and when you put young people into it to do your dirty work as Commander-in-chief, according to ass-hat stupid PC rules of engagement, you should stand by them unless they are doing something really, really wrong. President Bush never stood by them.
Oh, yeah, I just remembered Rummy. That really angered me and many others.
He just cut them loose, when he could have instantly protected them by making a few phone calls as C-in-C.
He also naively (fecklessly is perhaps a better word) let the press set his agenda, instead of him setting THEIR agenda, as he should have done as a wartime President.
The President overall performed solidly in some things, but he screwed up in many ways: He disregarded his duty to the Constitution: maintaining porous borders, starting ridiculous LBJ type entitlements such as universal prescription coverage, bailing out all the Wall Street executives, who were engaged in the mortgage scandal and took down our financial system, (by the way, notice how agressively they are being pursued by 43's DOJ), and developing all the stealth One-World crap like the Mexican NAFTA highway that he and his class are so hell-bent on executing.
So please, let's not talk about BDS on this thread, because there are a lot of very solid reasons why I and many, many others are pleased not to have to defend this President any longer.
And if you think I am full of it, just remember that it was President Bush 43 that got us Obama, in exactly the same way President Bush 41 got us eight long years of Clinton.
Just found out! THANK YOU PRESIDENT BUSH!
There will never be another Reagan.
The Democrats realize that his ability to bring the parties together was part of what made him a legend and they will see to it that no Republican does it again.
In case you hadn’t noticed, the Republican party was divided before GWB took office as evidenced by the names of the Senators I listed in the previous post. Add the media’s distortions of Foley and Craig and their hatred of all things Republican and surely you can find many other people or entities to blame than this one man.
As for the Republican party being divided, perhaps a good long look in the mirror would be a good start. I have seen people being torn apart on this forum for not belonging to the 100% Conservative club. The only problem is that I can’t figure out who wrote the by-laws for the club. Was it Buchanan? Ron Paul?
I’d like to think it was Reagan because he helped form every one of my political beliefs but he granted amnesty to millions of Mexicans so I assume he wasn’t invited to be a member of the club either. In fact, were he to get the nomination nowadays I suspect you’d call him a RINO California Lib. He used to be a Democrat ya know.
What an embarrassment Bush is.
Even going out the door Bush couldn't be bothered to do the right thing and pardon these guys, he had to do a half-assed commutation.
1st day of spring... must be something about a bare minimum sentence requirement. Just keep ‘em in isolation. Sorry, but if they’re in Gen Pop they’ll not make it.
That is truly GREAT NEWS!!! Thank you, Mr. President.
200th Birthday of Edgar Allen Poe.
I talk about BDS any where I please, thanks.
What I do is praise him in areas where he did right and well.
In areas where he didn’t, I respectfully disagreed.
BDS is people who, no matter what good he has done, no matter that he appears by most and best accounts to be a decent human being, insist that he deserves nothing but loathing and disrespect.
Wishes of violence upon him,
wishes that we had Al Gore or John Kerry in the Oval Office just so the object of their scorn wouldn’t have won.
And yes, I will talk about it. I’m not afraid of the people who do this. Leftists or anyone here, whatever...
You Bush bashers make me sick. You just can’t give him a break can you. For shame.
Bush finally gets something right.
While some stay on one note forever with any chance, anytime to Bush bash! Right?
No, YOU are...
Are you recommending they turn it down?
Would you if you were in their places?
You're an embarrassment.
I doubt a true conservative could win in this country. Too many liberals and moderates now.
"Compean and Ramo were sentenced to 12 years and 11 years in prison, respectively. They each also were fined $2,000 and sentenced to three years of supervised release. Under the terms of Bush's commutation, their prison sentences will expire on March 20, but their three-year terms of supervised release and the fines will remain intact."
...a stunningly moronic statement.
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