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

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 agree. He waited till the last minute, perhaps heard someone say, "You'll have this on your record, Mr. Prez--the people won't forget it." But he couldn't bring himself to absolve them, so at least they could make a decent living and own guns to protect themselves & families. This is small-minded, cheap-shot stuff , but he has behaved this way toward the American people in general at various times when we disagreed with him--the Dubai ports thing comes to mind. I have never been so disappointed in a President as with him, liked him so much in his first year.

Glad anyway that these two poor guys are or will be free and I feel good for their families. Just a few days ago there was a letter--think on WND--by Jose Compean, to all of us in thanks for our efforts to win their freedom. It was so sad.

We have a Rat controlled nation because of him and HIS GOP.

Agreed. If he had asked Cheney to step down so that the GOP could groom a worthy successor, we would not have been stuck with McLame as our nominee. It's the duty of a successful President to ensure the continuation of his legacy. I could forgive GWB for forgetting that, if it had not happened to his own father.

I can see holding off on the commutation until after the election, but the day after, they should have been sprung free. As it stands, they won't get out for a little while, no doubt they've been terrorized in prison by criminals. I just hope that the corrections officers have been looking out after them.

Letting the Fed put the pedal to the metal on interest rates during the first term was the cause of the present financial difficulty. Not keeping an eye on the true status of the economy was the failing that undid Bush's legacy in at least the near term.

Pouring out the half full cup?

Or has it always been empty?

Guess you will be very happy with a Democrat for president these next four years.

Reading only what your want? I SAID there were some things I didn’t like about what President Bush did. I just didn’t dump every thing in the trash because I didn’t like some things.

I can name things that Reagan did too that I DID NOT like.
Equally I didn’t “empty the glass” then either.

But as I noted, some only want to remember OR read what they want and leave the rest.

And rather than grant a full pardon, he granted a commutation

WHERE IS THE COMPASSIONATE CONSERVATIVE???

To me the most petty aspect of the president's action is the fact that he didn't commute their sentence to time served so they could be released immediately.

They won't be released until March 20 and they still have to serve three-year terms of supervised release and they still have to pay the fines that were a part of their sentences.

The president just couldn't bring himself to do the 100% right thing for these two persecuted men. Some compassion.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j6mH44rWD9yyZf_AZ7YxQDVFL7WwD95QGVU80

"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."

"During his presidency, Bush has granted a total of 189 pardons and 11 commutations. That's fewer than half as many as Presidents Bill Clinton or Ronald Reagan issued during their two-term tenures. Bush technically has until noon on Tuesday when President-elect Barack Obama is sworn into office to exercise his executive pardon authority, but presidential advisers said no more were forthcoming."

Clinton issued a total of 457 pardons or commutations in eight years in office. Bush's father, George H. W. Bush, issued 77 in four years. Reagan issued 406 in eight years, and President Jimmy Carter issued 563 in four years. Since World War II, the largest number of pardons and commutations — 2,031 — came from President Harry Truman, who served 82 days short of eight years.

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.

And don't forget former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Marine General Peter Pace, a patriot's patriot, who became 'politically incorrect' in the view of the Senate, and rather than back him up and fight for another term as Chairman, GWB sent word that it was time for General Pace to retire. That was just cowardice.

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

Please let's not forget that massive and useless boondoggle aka "No Child Left Behind"

, 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 aggressively 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.

As they would say in the hood?

WORD!

He never let Scooter go to jail - he commuted him right after his sentencing. That was one of the problems — the guy that was in the administration got a get out of jail free card, but these frontline grunt fellows got to spend a couple of years in prison, where they are targets, and have generally been treated like Shiite.

I’m pretty sure they have been held for political reasons, and to keep them silent, so I pray they get out safe, and that they speak out as soon as they’re released.

I’m pretty sure they’re going to be OK careerwise. There is no shortage of people who would be willing to help these guys, as many people know the truth.

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