Scattered Work

Before the Buzzer

After Clinton’s numerous (and dubious) pardons, a lot of people were wondering who Bush might pardon before leaving office. As the Economist notes, the answer was a bit surprising. Why would Bush, who clashed with his own party due to his moderate (some might say liberal) stance on immigration reform, choose to commute the sentences of two border partol agents convicted of killing shooting an unarmed drug smugglers?

The surprise was that George Bush, who’d failed in two attempts to pass sweeping and forgiving immigration reforms, should listen to the likes of Mr Dobbs and Mr Tancredo. There was a strong case against Jose Alonso Compean and Ignacio Ramos, one made by some mainstream conservatives who considered them thugs being promoted by activists who didn’t know any better.

A perplexing end to a vexing presidency. But still, not as bad as it could have been.

UPDATE: As commenter eltb points out, the drug smuggler was not killed, but was shot and wounded. He also points out that at least one Democrat has taken up this cause (Diane Feinstein contacted Bush to request clemency in this case). I definitely got sloppy on that one, my apologies. While we’re at it, it’s worth emphasizing one point that I did get right in the original post: Bush didn’t pardon the two border agents; their convictions still stand. He just commuted what he saw as unreasonably long sentences.

Tags: Bill Clinton, commutations, George W. Bush, pardons

The Three Ashleys

Portraits of political prowess:

The contrast from four years ago is striking. Four years ago, the emotional fulcrum of the race swung between Bush v. Not Bush. Bush won, in part because he could make an affirmative, emotional closing argument. This year, Obama v. Nobama is bringing out the worst, most base human instincts from the McCain campaign, and an emotional, Ashley-based closing argument that voters need to fear “that one.”

Sean Quinn isn’t being totally fair here; there’s no evidence that John McCain intended for Ashley Todd to become part of his campaign message. But it’s easy to see how his campaign fell into that trap, and it has a lot to do with tactics that were devised at the top levels of the campaign.

Tags: Barack Obama, campaigns, George W. Bush, John McCain