Should President Kerry pardon Bush and Cheney for their crimes?

[IndianaGreen]

Should President Kerry pardon Bush and Cheney for their crimes? President Ford faced such a choice after Nixon was impeached. There were calls to get Nixon prosecuted in order to discourage any future President from committing the same sordid crimes that Nixon committed.

President Ford decided to pardon Nixon in order to "spare" the country the ordeal of a trial. Ford lost his bid for election.

Personally, I think that Bush and Cheney should be prosecuted for all of the crimes they committed while in office, from the Valerie Plame leak to Bob Novak, to war crimes.

[MuseRider]

1. NO NO NO NO

These assholes have to learn. If we let them go they will be back and ready to complete what they are a good ways into now. NO!

[shraby]

2. Put them in Leavenworth and

throw away the key.

[RC]

3. You forgot a category

HELL NO!!!

[lovedems]

4. Or F_ck no! That seems to be the "in" word these days!

Dickhead has started a potty mouth trend. What will Pat think? :P

[Kahuna]

12. You got that right!

HELL NO!

[bigwillq]

14. What about

HELL'S NO!!!!

[soothsayer]

5. no, but he would (skull and bones)

He won't boot all the old Iran Contra types who are back, either. That may be part of the "deal", or so they say.

[SoDesuKa]

6. I Voted Yes

I voted yes just to be contrarian. I don't think there's much chance of convicting a former president based on policy differences. You and I may consider what Bush and Cheney have done to be crimes, but they have a lot of legal protection.

Maybe if you got them on something unquestionably illegal, where there's no issue of executive privilege, it's worth it to pursue an indictment. Even the Plame affair falls short of being unquestionably linked to Bush and Cheney.

Seeing Kenny Boy perp walk did my heart good. I'd live to see Bush and Cheney in orange jumpers.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

9. No quarter

>>I voted yes just to be contrarian. I don't think there's much chance of convicting a former president based on policy differences. You and I may consider what Bush and Cheney have done to be crimes, but they have a lot of legal protection.<<

So did Saddam.

Close the door put out the light,
You know they won't be home tonight.
The snow falls hard and don't you know,
The winds of Thor are blowing cold.

They're wearing steel that's bright and true.
They carry news that must get through.
They choose the path where no one goes.

They hold no quarter.
They hold no quarter.

Walking side by side with death,
The devil mocks their every step.
The snow drives back the foot that's slow,
The dogs of doom are howling more.

They carry news that must get through,
To build a dream for me and you.
They choose the path where no one goes.

They hold no quarter.
They ask no quarter.


Woo Hoo!! Who can I invade next???

[Spangle]

16. Because of lying

Clinton was impeached because he lied over a BJ. No one was harmed except a blue dress.

There is now a report documenting Lies from the Bush administration to mislead congress, senete and the nation in order to march on Iraq. That is grounds for impeachment.

This has nothing to do with policy differences.

With Clinton, it was also claimed he was abusing his power and attempting to fright people to change their testemony.

With Nixon, he was covering for a election campaign theift. The people were ready to hang him.

Bush's lies make Nixon and Clinton look like Saints. People DIED because of the Bush lies. How can our military TRUST the Office of the President if Bush isn't held accountable? How can other Nations trust our laws if we don't hold the President accountable.

Bush lied, he abused the Office of President, he abused the title Commander in Chief... I don't think Kerry has a honest choice in this. I think it is the only way we can truely heal as a country. It is the only way we can honestly show the world we are truely sorry for what Bush did. It is the only way to show that no one in America is ABOVE THE LAW!

[Mojambo]

7. I don't want to be a wet blanket

Cause I know everyone loves to dream about the day those two are dragged to federal prison (myself included)

BUT, I think it's HIGHLY unlikely that either one will ever even be charged for their crimes let alone convicted. (Cheney and the leak probe is a possibility, but it's remote that Dick will get nailed.)

The best that we can hope for (IMO) is that history will "convict" them as the traitors that they are.

[DaveSZ]

8. Of course not (Kerry shouldn't pardon them)

There needs to be an investigation though into their crimes.

This is why we must win back the Senate.

Rumsfeld should be imprisoned for breaking US and international law in authorizing torture of innocents (possibly children).

I don't expect Bush or Cheney to ever have to face any charges, and they will go back into Carlyle and make millions off the blood of thousands of innocent men, women, children, and our poor soldiers who joined to get free college.

[IndianaGreen]

10. Rumsfeld should be prosecuted for misappropriating funds

I know some of you thought it was a joke when I mentioned the Anti-Deficiency Act a few months ago, but it is a real law with teeth. When Rumsfeld ordered the DOD Comptroller to spend funds earmarked for Afghan reconstruction for the invasion of Iraq, it was a violation of federal law: using funds for purposes for which they were not appropriated.

Now, who has the balls to call them on it!

[DaveSZ]

11. What would it take to prosecute him?

At the very least I want him in an orange jumpsuit.

Could the Senate do it?

[Lefty Pragmatist]

13. Other

Neither Bush nor Cheney will ever be charged with a crime. I can't actually think of a true "crime" either is guilty of -- starting an unwarranted war is ethically but not legally criminal.

Of course, if the Vengeful God they believe in really does exist, they'll each have their own little corner of Hell reserved for them.

But I'd be willing to bet that this administration will give us at least one high quality white collar crime conviction if Kerry wins and people start ratting out the bad guys. There will be a Reichstag fire in the archives before the GOP allows anyone to ever really know what went on in the private energy meetings, but I'm sure it left enough of a footprint in the commerical/regulatory world that eventually one of Cheney's or Rumsfield's subordinates will go to the Big House for corruption and fraud.

We may also get some convictions of contracting firm execs post-2004, and they are basically full members of this administration.

[Tweed]

17. I voted Other too, you said it better then I could

What exact crimes have Bush and Cheney committed? Does it help America and Democrats to try and get a case against them? Won't that makes us seem just like the people who went after Clinton?

[IndianaGreen]

21. Wars of aggression are against the UN Charter and international law

Saddam, Bush and Cheney should be sharing a cell with Mr. Milosevic.

Clinton too! Not so much for the Balkan war, but for the genocide he helped unleashed with his Plan Colombia.

[fortyfeetunder]

15. Can't the Hague dispatch them?

I can't imagine they haven't broken some tenet of international law.

[Hippo_Tron]

18. No, and Michael Moore should do the investigation

Dreaming is so much fun.

[Toucano]

19. IG, you suprise me.

I know you know this, but I'm going to say it just for the record.

Nixon was not impeached. He resigned. Just a technicality. :)

[IndianaGreen]

20. The House voted Articles of Impeachment

The Senate trial never took place because Nixon resigned, good point there dralston.

He should have been tried, not only for the crimes of Watergate, but for his war crimes in Vietnam and Chile.

There won't be equality under the law in this country until the day that a sitting President faces the same justice that a minimum wage person gets.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

22. I Have A Better Chance Of Knocking Bones With Halle Berry

Than Bush And Cheney Have Of Being Indicted....


Sometimes I think some folks on this board have created their own parallel universes...


Sheeeeeessssssshhhhhhhhh......

[bklyncowgirl]

23. I'd love to see them both in Leavenworth but it won't happen

National unity, get thiss behind us, that sort of thing, sort of like Ford pardoning Nixon.

[IndianaGreen]

24. National "unity" be damned!

Justice demands a trial of the war criminals in the Bush/Cheney regime. The deaths of thousands of innocents cry out for justice. National "unity" be damned!

[DemocratSinceBirth]

25. Maybe They'll Get Their "Justice" In The Next Life....

It ain't happening in this life....

[GreenArrow]

26. Bush will pardon himself and his buddies

Kerry won't even be faced with the choice.

[swhisper]

27. No elected pres should go into office thinking he will be pardoned

it leads to the lawlessness we have in politics today. The good ole boy club needs to be shut down, and lobbyists sent a message. If we get the House or Senate, we should go after everyone who has been blatently mis-using their positions.

[newyawker99]

28. Hi swhisper!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast: