Bush needs to pardon Siegelman or commute his sentence

[ck4829]

Governor Siegelman got the raw deal, the judge said before the trial that he was going to convict him, jurors were found to be talking to one another via email, there's also the strange business about his attorney's office being ransacked after sentencing.

If Bush thought that Scooter Libby's sentence was unfair, then he must be weeping over Don Siegelman's sentence, right?

Pardon or commute now.

[lisa58]

1. He might do it just to keep Karl in the clear...

...you don't actually think he cares about fairness.

[Warpy]

2. Exactly, and to keep Siegleman under a cloud of doubt

However, this gang is viciously vindictive. I doubt they would pardon one of their former targets even to save their own rotten asses.

[madokie]

3. now that you mention it he prolly will and for that very reason

bush and roves relation has only changed in how its seen from the outside not how it is on the inside.

[Faygo Kid]

4. Yeah, that has a snowball's chance in Hell of happening

[RB TexLa]

5. You don't pardon people of the other party. Now, the real travesty will be if Clinton

or Obama pardons Siegelman but leaves Edwin Edwards to die in prison.

[msongs]

6. if he is innocent, a pardon will only make him guilty after the fact nt

[Juche]

7. They are different situations

My understanding is that Libby was kept out of prison by Bush because he is very emotionally unstable and there was a risk that if he were put in prison he would crack like an egg and tell all about all the things the Bush admin has been up to. That is why Libby wasn't pardoned, his sentence was commuted. he still had the fines and all the other punishments because there was no risk of him ratting on the Bush admin due to the fines or probation, only his prison sentence posed that risk. In fact, I have 'heard' that is why Libby was targeted in the first place, in the hopes that he would crack in prison and give up info on Cheney, Bush and the other PNAC neocons in exchange for leniency.

Siegelman involved Rove's possible criminal behavior.

So the Libby pardon had nothing to do with justice, just the Bush admin practicing a CYA maneuver. To compare them really doesn't add up.

If Rove gets arrested for the Siegelman case and Bush pardons Rove, that I can see happening.

[lifesbeautifulmagic]

8. lets not forget being hauled away in chains in the middle of the night

or being shuffled from place to place without being given access to his attorneys, or the fact that the if it wasn't for some brave investigative journalists, and the collective explosion of the blogaspere, there STILL wouldn't be a written record of his trial.

The whole thing just reeks. It is shameful. And the national media should hang their heads in shame that it took so long for them to take notice. Apologies to Abrams.