Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton denounces the Libby commutation as “disregard for the rule of law” and a “clear signal that in this administration, cronyism and ideology trump competence and justice.”
She has a point. But hello?! Wasn’t she part of the Clinton administration? Speaking of disregarding the rule of law.
And abusing the pardon power? The Clinton administration was notoriously stingy in pardoning real victims of unjust sentences. When it did use the pardon power, it seemed to have an unerring instinct for scandalous and undeserving beneficiaries. In 1999, as Hillary Clinton began her Senate campaign, President Clinton pardoned 16 members of the Puerto Rican terrorist organization FALN, raising questions about whether the pardons were intended to curry favor with New York’s Puerto Rican electorate. And then there was the infamous last day in office, when Clinton managed to pardon or commute the sentences of
- Marc Rich, a fugitive tax evader whose ex-wife was a major contributor to the Clintons;
- Susan McDougal, who loyally refused to testify in the Whitewater scandal;
- Child-molesting Democratic congressman Mel Reynolds;
- Post Office-molesting Democratic congressman Dan Rostenkowski;
- Cocaine kingpin Carlos Vignali, whose father was a major Democratic contributor;
- Four Hasidic shysters alleged to have promised and delivered Hasidic votes to Hillary Clinton’s first campaign;
- Clinton’s half-brother Roger;
- and various crooks who paid fees to Hillary Clinton’s brothers Hugh and Tony Rodham to lobby the First Family.
With so many people in jail who deserve a pardon, as Gene Healy and I have discussed in earlier Cato@Liberty posts, it’s appalling that both President Clinton and President Bush have used their pardon powers in such ways. And if anyone lacks credibility to criticize the Libby pardon, it would be President Clinton and Senator Clinton.
