Bush Pardons Leonard Peltier

Jesse Walker | November 24, 2008

Sorry, just yanking your chain: Peltier is still behind bars. The president did just issue 14 pardons and two commutations. It doesn't look like a bad list -- it's mostly victimless crimes, such as "unlawful use of a telephone in a narcotics felony," which I assume did not involve using the phone to bean an old lady in the back of the head.

Muppet turned Cheney henchman Lewis "Scooter" Libby didn't make the cut this time, but Plamegate obsessives needn't fret; Bush still has another two months to clear his crony's record.

[Via Anthony Gregory.]

Comments

Elemenope|11.24.08 @ 9:51PM|#

Muppet turned Cheney henchman Lewis "Scooter" Libby didn't make the cut this time, but Plamegate obsessives needn't fret; Bush still has another two months to set his crony free.

I thought he was pardoned a long time ago. No?

|11.24.08 @ 9:57PM|#

Bush Pardons Leonard Peltier

Sorry, just yanking your chain

Jesse, don't ever do that again. Don't ever ever ever ever do that again.

I get a bellyfull of "Free Leonard Peltier" crap every time I meet some of my mother's friends. I hope the murdering SOB stays behind bars until the sun burns out.

Jesse Walker|11.24.08 @ 10:02PM|#

I thought he was pardoned a long time ago. No?

His sentence was commuted but he wasn't given a full pardon. My use of the phrase "set...free" is misleading; I'll change it.

cunnivore|11.24.08 @ 10:12PM|#

Jan 17: Bush pardons Cheney
Jan 18: Bush resigns
Jan 19: Cheney pardons Bush

Bank on it!

|11.24.08 @ 10:23PM|#

That's unfair to Libby.

He's Cheney's crony.

|11.24.08 @ 10:26PM|#

but what about Mumia?

|11.24.08 @ 11:06PM|#

but what about Mumia?

That's for Obama.

Elemenope|11.24.08 @ 11:24PM|#

His sentence was commuted but he wasn't given a full pardon.

Ah, that's what I was missing. Thx.

|11.24.08 @ 11:42PM|#

Mumia, aside from being a cop killer, was convicted under PA law. Bush can't pardon him.

What are the Vegas odds on Bush pardoning himself and all his staff on the way out?

|11.25.08 @ 1:22AM|#

Sorry, just yanking your chain

You bastard! I nearly broke my chin when it hit the floor!

|11.25.08 @ 7:16AM|#

@aresen There's enough evidence in that case to warrant a new trial. I'm not sure Peltier is innocent, but he got railroaded and deserves - for the first time - a fair trial.

|11.25.08 @ 7:31AM|#

As sympathetic as I am to Native American independence movements, I'd have to say that Peltier is probably guilty. He should still get a proper trial, though, because I don't believe the FBI for a second.

Abdul|11.25.08 @ 7:36AM|#

I bought the Lenny Peltier thing too. It would be a typical Bush move: it does nothing for the conservatives who elected him and the people who would like such a pardon will still hate Bush.

|11.25.08 @ 9:53AM|#

What a bizarre assortment of criminals.

A few banking crimes- these people are probably headed directly to consulting jobs at Treasury.
And this one: "Andrew Foster Harley of Falls Church, Va. Harley was convicted of wrongful use and distribution of marijuana and cocaine." Falls Church, you say; I cannot help but wonder who his Daddy is, and by whom he is employed.

|11.25.08 @ 10:31AM|#

I wonder if he is going to give himself a "self pardon" for all of his own CRIMES against humanity!

http://www.Privacy-Center.net

|11.25.08 @ 10:39AM|#

The new round of White House pardons are Bush's first since March...

...so he waited 'til now because...it's almost Thanksgiving?

Is it a slap in the face to get pardoned in the same week as a turkey?

Boston|11.25.08 @ 10:59AM|#

Is it a slap in the face

You know what they say... a slap in the face is better than a _____ in the _____

|11.25.08 @ 1:24PM|#

Bush should pardon Peltier. If it's the only thing his administration ever does right. Bush/Cheney paid those Blackwater mercs to roam the world, killing innocent people with impunity. Peltier a harmless old Indian, he no longer poses a threat to national security, let the man go.

|11.25.08 @ 2:48PM|#

...so he waited 'til now because...it's almost Thanksgiving?

My God, what are they doing to those petitioners in the background?!?

|11.25.08 @ 4:17PM|#

>> Bush Pardons Leonard Peltier
Thanks so much for that. Now it is going to show up in every freaking search anyone does on Peltier. Like the Google Alert I just received. Happiest of Thanksgiving

|11.25.08 @ 4:39PM|#

John Forte!

Too bad every black man with 30 lbs of cocaine can't go to prep school with Carly Simon's son and make music so Orrin Hatch will support him.

|11.27.08 @ 2:06PM|#

I get a bellyfull of "Free Leonard Peltier" crap every time I meet some of my mother's friends. I hope the murdering SOB stays behind bars until the sun burns out.

Hear, hear. Ditto Mumia.

It doesn't look like a bad list -- it's mostly victimless crimes...

Figures that on his way out the door, Bush would start acting like a libertarian...