The English language, quartered, deboned and wrapped nicely in butcher paper.
Q Thanks. Let me ask you about presidential pardons. Last week, you issued 17 of them. That brought the number of pardons you've issued in your presidency to 97, and that's far fewer than most of your recent predecessors, except your dad. And I want to ask you, do you consider yourself to be stingy when it comes to pardons? What is your philosophy on granting presidential pardons?
THE PRESIDENT: You know, I don't have the criterion in front of me, Mark, but we have a strict criterion that we utilize -- we being the Justice Department and the White House Counsel. And I, frankly, haven't compared the number of pardons I've given to any other President. Perhaps I should. But I don't think a scorecard should, necessarily, be the guidepost for pardoning people.
Bush uses a strict litmus test for pardons? Criterion is singular and given the list, he might be right... if the offense is minor and in the distant past, the request is granted.
Posted by kerry at August 22, 2006 02:41 AMSome of Bush's pardon choices are just weird...counterfeiters, bootleggers...
But I bet there's one thing they all have in common. Bet they've all found Jeezus.
Posted by: Peter Dubuque at August 22, 2006 08:59 AMWas Jeezus lost?
Posted by: kerry at August 22, 2006 10:29 AMApparently he gets lost a lot, and people make a huge deal out of it whenever they find him.
Posted by: Peter Dubuque at August 22, 2006 11:42 AM