The date: late January 2001
The scene: Oval Office, White House, Washington, DC
The players: former President William J. Clinton, President Albert Gore
Clinton: Now, here’s the drawer where I kept my envelopes. That Bush guy kept his here, too, so you might want to keep the tradition.
Gore: Hmm, yes, I see.
[Clinton sneezes.]
Clinton: Oh, pardon me.
What should Gore do? Does he pardon Clinton? Or, does he just pass him a tissue and tell him to wipe his nose?
Any punishment of Bill Clinton will be of the civil variety. It doesn’t matter who is elected president.
The thing to rememeber is that this is the U.S.A. To the rest of the world we are the bedrock of stability. The U.S. has the military power, the currency, and the lifestyles that are the envy of the world.
The U.S. CANNOT put its ex-leader’s in jail as if it were some third world country and maintain its image.
So Mr. Clinton WILL receive a pardon for any criminal liability for his transgressions. Even if it is discovered that he personally handed our nuclear secrets to the Chinese.
His “penalty” will be at most disbarrment and fines. But since he’ll command 6 figure honorariums per speech and will be invited to sit on numerous boards of directors, I wouldn’t lose any sleep over his ability to survive.
Assuming the question is really “Do you think Gore will issue a pardon for Clinton for alleged law-breaking during fund-raising/Whitewater/Chinese dealings/shooting Vince Foster while snorting cocaine?” then it’s an interesting question.
On the one hand, Ford got reamed a good bit for pardoning Nixon.
On the other, the Republicans didn’t take much flak for Bush pardoning everyone in Iran-Contra.
But Bush was on his way out of the Presidency, so it wasn’t like the pardon would hang over him in any way. If Gore pardons Clinton, then Gore gets to deal with whatever resentment/revulsion/annoyance that causes just as he’s trying to go off and deal with a Congress that will likely include a Republican Senate, and maybe a Republican House. Not the best way to build bridges.
Of course, that assumes that on his last day in office Clinton doesn’t issue himself and all of his staff a blanket pardon for all possible offenses and crimes ever committed.
I’m going to stay out of this thread, simply because I’m more curious what y’all have to say, but I have to ask this:
Clinton can pardon himself?
According to some theories, yes. There are some acts of the presidency that aren’t done because it “isn’t right”. Pardoning oneself is probably technically legal, though would probably be considered so dickless, spineless, weaselly… oh, wait, this is Clinton… it’d be standard operating procedure.