Bush Commutes Sentences of Two Border Agents Convicted of Shooting Drug Dealer

AP ^ | 1-19-09 | DEB RIECHMANN

[shoutingandpointing]

It will be interesting to see for whom else and for what else he puts pen to paper in the waning hours before handing over the keys to The People's condo. ;)

Meanwhile, let the mythsiah’s deceived minions eat promise pie.

—

Godspeed Mr. Compean and Mr. Ramos. Godspeed.

[mkjessup]

"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."
I won't be praising President Bush on this one. Sounds like he was dragged into doing the right thing.

And he sure took his sweet-ass time about it. It doesn't strike me as an act of mercy, more like an act of spite, first by granting the least to Ramos and Compean (i.e., commutation, not a full pardon), and second by not stipulating that they should be released immediately (and nobody is going to tell me he couldn't have done that by executive order).

And these two Border Agents will now carry felony convictions on their record, be unable to carry firearms to defend themselves, and will most likely be considered fair game by the dopers, smugglers and other violent illegals among the 14+ million that have swarmed into our Country over the past 8 years, and are still swarming today.

[xtinct]

Great news!! Now, he needs to give a blanket pardon to all his present/former staff... resign and let Dick Cheney pardon him.

[Girlene]

Thanks for the info, hoppity. Now they can fight their conviction! Good deal.

[FocusNexus]

Thank you, President Bush!

We were hoping for a pardon, but we are happy with at least commuting their sentence, so they can be out of jail.

[lentulusgracchus]

he doesn’t stand a chance of having a legacy as long as it’s the liberals writing it.

Carve that one on the side of El Capitan in letters 20' high and two feet deep. Then gild them with radium so they'll glow in the dark for 10,000 years.

[visualops]

Should have pardoned them but this is sure better than nothing. Thank the Lord for at least some small (very very small) justice for these men.

[SwinneySwitch]

Texas 2 ping!

[lilycicero]

*sigh* but good

[Tribune7]

It was the right thing to do but it would have been righter if he did it a year ago.

[Tennessee Nana]

PING

God Bless these men and their families...

[mkjessup]

I heard one of their wives on the radio, and they wanted commutations, not pardons. They said accepting a pardon would have been an admission of guilt, and they still plan on fighting the conviction.

I believe the wife in question may have been poorly advised on that, as I recall in the Scooter Libby case, when Libby's sentenced was commuted, it became apparent after the fact that the reason Libby would ultimately decide NOT to appeal the conviction was because of the risk that if the appeal failed, he could find himself behind bars and the previous granted commutation would be worth nothing more than toilet paper.

Nobody wants a felony conviction on their record, that is true. But preferring commutation over a pardon in hopes of having the original conviction overturned is little more than a crap shoot, imho.

[Reagan Man]

Kudos to President Bush!

[CAluvdubya]

I won't be praising President Bush on this one. Sounds like he was dragged into doing the right thing.

That's my take on it as well. I'm very disappointed that these men weren't pardoned.

Now that Bush has commuted their sentences, why the delay in getting them out, I wonder?

[RedRover]

Thanks so much for the ping, dyna! VERY good news!

[LallyG]

This has made my day! My sister called to tell me as I’ve been avoiding the newsThis (and his support for amnesty) was my only issue w/ Pres. Bush. I don’t know how many e-mails I sent to the White House, how many faxes, and last week, a FedEx went out to him via Grassfire.org. I didn’t give up hope, but was not feeling positive in the dwindling days of Bush’s Presidency. But today, President Bush came through, on his last day!! Thank you President Bush!! Thank you to all of the organizations who tirelessly worked for either their pardoning or sentence commutation! They shouldn’t have spent one night in jail. Who cares if they shot the smuggler in the hiney - he got free health care in our country. This is great news today - makes me wanna shoot off that gun I’ve been clinging to in celebration!!

[lentulusgracchus]

Good idea. Pinging......

[tflabo]

makes me wanna shoot off that gun I’ve been clinging to in celebration!!

Don't forget to grasp the Bible in the other hand just to make it official, eheheheheeh...

[End Times Sentinel]

Thanks for waiting until after Christmas, you jerk.

Were you trying to make some kind of point, or was that just a favor to your amigos Fox and Calderon?

[LallyG]

Yep, some at the DU are gnashing their teeth “they should have gotten life sentences” and they’re noting that we’re celebrating here on FR. Some are commenting that that was a good move (commutation versus pardoning). I thought perhaps they were drunken with Obama coronation fever but they have this commutation news there on their site. Of course, you don’t see much of this great news plastered all over the MSM because it’s devoted to the chosen One’s day tomorrow.