Posted on 03/24/2005 3:29:58 PM PST by carl in alaska
Legal experts say that if Florida Gov. Jeb Bush defies state judge George Greer and orders state troopers to rescue Terri Schiavo, he and any other officials who participate in such a move risk a contempt citation from Greer that could put them in jail.
But with a powerful ally in the White House, Terri Schiavo's would-be rescuers have nothing to fear from the runaway judge.
In 2001, President Clinton pardoned drug dealers, international money launderers - even FALN terrorists, who were spared in a blatant bid to win votes for his wife's Senate campaign.
The episode taught a bewildered nation that the powers of the president to pardon anyone he wishes are absolute and irrefutable.
Today, Clinton is the most popular American politician in the world and his wife is the frontrunning candidate for her party's presidential nomination. In other words, the Pardongate scandal's lasting political fallout was nil.
He even pardoned his own brother, who had been convicted of selling cocaine.
Should Gov. Bush decide to rescue Terri Schiavo by force in violation of Judge Greer's order, President Bush could do the same for his brother - along with any other officials the right-to-die judge tries to punish.
Would there be controversy? You bet. Would the Bush family's political enemies try to capitalize? Absolutely.
But a nation that forgives one president for pardoning terrorists will certainly forgive another who uses his pardon power to save a life.
Once Terri Schiavo begins to receive the treatment she's been denied for more than a decade, her condition will almost certainly improve. Nurses who have cared for her have already testified she can speak and eat without a feeding tube, in stark contradiction of Judge Greer's findings.
Terri's recovery, however minimal, would serve as powerful evidence that the Bush brothers did the right thing in coming to her rescue.
In the meantime, the nation would be spared the haunting specter of its government starving an innocent citizen to death.
Another apt analogy. Politicians are our patrons not our representatives.
I agree. it would be different if the polls were flipped the other way, but they aren't, and this plan would be a nightmare.
I see you're being extremely obtuse.
If the religious right expects politicians to represent them to the degree that they're presently demanding, then they'd better generate enough votes to keep those representatives in office and elect new ones. If they don't do so, then the politicians who represented them will lose the next election, and a group of politicians who do not represent the religious right will win the next election. More to the point, the politicians who lost the election would not ever trust the religious right again.
How so? Where all the people Clinton pardoned "federal" issues? I think not.
Jeb Bush has no political future.
I was just noting that he calls himself a moron, moron.
I have a long way to go to be as obtuse as you are. You actually buy the idea that the "religious right" delivered wins to Bush and the GOP. Funny, in 2000 it was the NRA. Bush I lost in '92 because of "read my lips." In '80 it was "an end to the malaise." What kind of dolt actually thinks there is a "religious right?" Moral values may have had a significant role last election but it's laughable to think only church going Christians voted on them.
Actually, I don't--their contribution is sharply overstated. I'm saying that the "religious right" is taking out a huge loan of goodwill, and that they will be expected to make good on their end of the deal. If they don't, they're going to be seriously hosed.
Well it won't hurt to bad since "they" don't exist. LOL
Republicans are wimps--scared of Democrats and mainstream media. They haven't done squat about illegal immigration, affirmative action, appointing conservatives to the Supreme Court, or reducing the size and power of the Federal government. Bush is being led around the nose by Vincente Fox and Hispanic pressure groups. His Treasury Department is even encouraging banks to set up accounts for illegal aliens in direct violation of the law that prohibits businesses from deriving commercial benefits from illegal aliens. What bother to vote for these people? They are merely Democrat-lite.
A voice of reason!
Ask yourself that question, your ilk is killing the vote margin you need to stay in power.
Stuffit poo
Ok send me the thirty pieces of silver.........</sarcasm>
So many vigilante articles, so little time.
It's cute watching the liberal end of the GOP make threats.
It restored state civil rights. But the president cannot pardon state crimes. Try again.
Re: post #160:
"In relevant part: "Under the Constitution, only federal criminal convictions, such as those obtained in the United States District Courts, may be pardoned by the President. In addition, the President's pardon power extends to convictions obtained in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia and military court-martial proceedings. However, the President cannot pardon a state criminal offense."
Spycatcher: next time, get your facts straight before calling into question someone else's intelligence, lest you demonstrate failings of your own.
After all, does anyone here think the founders would have granted the president the power to overturn state or local court decisions with a pardon? C'mon...
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