Posted on 02/22/2007 12:38:54 PM PST by bkepley
His personal attack made this week on Hillary Clinton harkens back to then-President Bill Clinton’s refusal to pardon an American Indian activist Geffen believes was falsely convicted of murder.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsmax.com ...
You're joking, right?
Peltier executed two injured FBI agents at point blank range. The fact that this guy is a hero of the Lefty establishment boggles my mind!
It shouldn't.
Yeah, I know...
Thursday, Feb. 22, 2007 1:11 p.m. ESTWhy David Geffen Hates Hillary & Bill Clinton
Why does movie mogul David Geffen hate the Clintons so much?
His personal attack made this week on Hillary Clinton harkens back to then-President Bill Clinton’s refusal to pardon an American Indian activist Geffen believes was falsely convicted of murder.
DreamWorks co-chairman Geffen and Bill Clinton were once close, and Geffen raised some $18 million for Clinton. He was even a guest in the White House's Lincoln Bedroom during the Clinton presidency.
Geffen turned his back on his friend when he pardoned fugitive financier Marc Rich in the last days of his administration – after rebuffing Geffen’s request for a pardon for Leonard Peltier.
In June 1975 – during protests by the American Indian Movement – federal agents entered a ranch on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota. Following a shootout, two agents were found shot at close range through the head.
Peltier, who was on the reservation that day, fled to Canada but was later extradited, convicted of murder and sentenced to two consecutive life terms. He remains behind bars. Supporters, including Geffen, have claimed that authorities falsified evidence and withheld other evidence at the trial, and have long sought a pardon for Peltier, now 62 and in poor health.
In his recent anti-Clinton remarks that were quoted by New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd, Geffen called Bill Clinton a "reckless guy,” criticized Hillary’s stand on the Iraq war, and asked if there is "anybody more ambitious than Hillary Clinton?”
Geffen, who is supporting Sen. Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination for president, also said: "Marc Rich getting pardoned? . . . Yet another time when the Clintons were unwilling to stand for the things that they genuinely believe in.”
Word from Hollywood sources was the Geffen, at first, had taken Clinton’s decision not to pardon Peltier in stride.
But Geffen went ballistic when he learned that President Clinton issued pardons to wrongdoers like Rich and 139 others in his final days in office. Among the pardons that sparked the most controversy:
- Marc Rich was indicted on tax evasion, commodities fraud and other charges in 1983 and fled to Switzerland. After Clinton pardoned him, a House committee probing Clinton’s pardons sought testimony from Rich’s ex-wife Denise, who had been a major contributor to Democratic causes – including Hillary’s Senate campaign and the Clinton Presidential Library. Denise Rich invoked the Fifth Amendment.
- Almon Glenn Braswell was pardoned of his mail fraud and perjury convictions after paying about $200,000 to Hillary’s brother, Hugh Rodham, to represent his case for clemency. He later returned the payments, but he too invoked the Fifth Amendment during a Congressional hearing.
- In 2000, Clinton pardoned Vonna Jo Gregory, owner of the carnival company United Shows International, and her husband Edgar for a 1982 bank fraud conviction. After the pardon, the company gave Hillary’s brother Anthony Rodham $107,000 in "loans” that he has never repaid.
- On his last day in office, Clinton pardoned his old friend Susan McDougal, who had already completed her sentence for her role in the Whitewater scandal.
- Clinton also pardoned his brother Roger on drug charges, and former Housing secretary Henry Cisneros, who was convicted of lying to the FBI about payments to a mistress.
- Clinton slashed the prison sentences of four men convicted of stealing millions in federal grants. The men were from a community of Hasidic Jews in New Square, N.Y., which voted 1,400 to 12 in favor of Hillary Clinton in her first Senate race.
- Clinton also commuted the sentences – over the objections of the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office – of 11 members of a Puerto Rican nationalist group that set off more than 100 bombs in the U.S. The large Puerto Rican community in New York City supports Democrats.
© NewsMax 2007. All rights reserved.
Wasn't Geffen Joni Mitchell's `Free Man in Paris'?
What's the big deal? Eveyone's been in Paris . . .
Wonder how much money ole slick got from geffen all the while promising to pardon the murderer. hah, they all deserve each other.
Get real....the Clintons NEVER get in trouble.
Maybe Geffen should have given Bill and Hitlery a hefty amount under the table prior to Slick Willie leaving office. Peltier would be a free man right now.
I shudder to think what would happen if this lamebrained woman was given the power of pardoning.
Nah..they get in lots of trouble. How's the song go "I've got a perfect record...40 arrests..no convictions" something like that.
Not a bad scenario when you think about it. I'll bet Slick told him over and over again that he would pardon Peltier and then didn't, but used the excuse of "the DOJ and FBI were against it" - nice out to be sure; however, Geffen learns that the P.R. terrorists get pardoned ALSO over DOJ and FBI objection and Slick's excuse no longer holds water. Guess Bill and the Hildebeest hadn't counted on having to drink at the Hollywood trough again....or that Geffen has a good memory and holds a grudge.
Remember all this when Democrats complain about the power of the rich. Heck, the Democrats let the wealthy buy Presidential pardons. Geffen is perturbed because his money didn't buy enough influence. And then, of course, there's George Soros. Everyone is willing to take international currency trader George's money.
What a bunch of baloney! Geffen knows better. He clearly stated that they were both liars.
You examine what people DO to figure out what they believe in.
Based on past actions it is clear that the Clinton's believe in money and power.
"the DOJ and FBI were against it"
I think that in Peltier's case it's a little different with the FBI.
If he pardoned Marc Rich, the PR terrorists and the Rodam brother's carnival crooks, anybody was eligible ---and the FBI had nothing to say about it of any substance.
Apparently, Bubba had another agenda.
You have to pick your fights. I think the FBI was prepared to fight over Peltier.
The Klinton's might have had a chance at more of geffen's dollars if they hadn't sent their hacks out there to blast the man. How stupid. And of all people, carvile, ugh!
That's the explanation. Geffen thought dumping loads of money into their campaign wells was good enough. But not with the Clintons. They wanted significant personal payola (at least funneled via the liebrary) and appanrently Geffen either found out tooo late or was too stingy in those last few hectic days of Pardongate and the White House garage sale.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.