# Who will Bush pardon before leaving office in January? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 15, 2004, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-will-bush-pardon-before-leaving-office-in-january/269372 "2004-10-15T13:55:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2004, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-will-bush-pardon-before-leaving-office-in-january/269372/41 "2004-10-15T22:15:54Z")
> [@xtisme](#): > > I thought Bush was going to throw out the elections and declair himself King or something. ClearChannel’s latest reports show that it’s uncertain if enough folks can be deceived into becoming unquestioning Dittoheads by November to support his coup. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2004, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-will-bush-pardon-before-leaving-office-in-january/269372/42 "2004-10-16T03:11:56Z")
> [@Fear Itself](#): > > Who will Dubya pardon before he leaves office on January 20, 2005? Martha! Why anyone else? ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-will-bush-pardon-before-leaving-office-in-january/269372/43 "2004-12-14T15:40:30Z")
Just checking – does anyone still believe a spate of pardons will be forthcoming? ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-will-bush-pardon-before-leaving-office-in-january/269372/44 "2004-12-14T20:30:11Z")
Sure, just not as originally scheduled. Sorta like getting the troops out of Iraq… ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-will-bush-pardon-before-leaving-office-in-january/269372/45 "2004-12-14T20:41:58Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Just checking – does anyone still believe a spate of pardons will be forthcoming? I’ve got friends who frequently find themselves on the BW Parkway – think we can get one of those federal traffic ticket dealies? Maybe a blanket amnesty of some sort for everyone who was speeding solely to get their average speed for their trip up over 10 mph? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-will-bush-pardon-before-leaving-office-in-january/269372/46 "2004-12-14T21:27:04Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Just checking – does anyone still believe a spate of pardons will be forthcoming? Do re-elected presidents routinely issue pardons as their first term draws to an end? Or is City Slicker Bricker baiting the liberals? ---
**Author:** ![Malodorous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47774/32.png) [@Malodorous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malodorous)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-will-bush-pardon-before-leaving-office-in-january/269372/47 "2004-12-14T21:52:26Z")
> [@Antiochus](#): > > Do re-elected presidents routinely issue pardons as their first term draws to an end? The point of the lame duck pardon is that the outgoing prez doesn’t need to care about the political ramifications, sort of a last burning of political capital before he can’t use it anymore. So no, re-elected presidents don’t do the samething, and **Bricker** may be gloating a bit. Of course, the relevant question might be, does a president who is forced out by impeachment still get to pardon people? Well, we can hope that question becomes relavant anyway. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-will-bush-pardon-before-leaving-office-in-january/269372/48 "2004-12-14T22:05:02Z")
Obviously \*\*Rick \*\*wanted to gloat a bit more, at the expense of those who thought they were clever by assuming Bush would lose. But even if we ignore that false assumption, the people offered up for pardon do show how lots of posters here simply can’t think rationally about Bush. Ken Lay gets a pardon-- I’ll bet any amount of money that that doesn’t happen. ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-will-bush-pardon-before-leaving-office-in-january/269372/49 "2004-12-14T22:36:26Z")
> [@John Mace](#): > > Obviously \*\*Rick \*\*wanted to gloat a bit more, at the expense of those who thought they were clever by assuming Bush would lose. Clearly, there won’t be any end-of-term pardons this year from the President. But there might still be end-of-year pardons – many presidents have taken the opportunity of the holidays and the new year to pardon people. President Bush has stuck to people you’ve never heard of who have served their sentences and gone on to live good productive lives. But 'tis the season – he could throw a surprise or two in there. None of the people mentioned on this thread by the various reality-challenged conspiracy theorists, as you say. But there might be an ex-dealer cum Minister or somesuch out there with a pardon in his future. I don’t think speculating whether a Bush newly-freed from election pressures might change his historically tight pardon policy (going back to his governor days, when a guy he pardoned found himself in trouble shortly after the thing was done) to something a little more loose is entirely useless. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-will-bush-pardon-before-leaving-office-in-january/269372/50 "2004-12-14T23:54:21Z")
Anyone notice that **Marc Rich** is back in the news? Seems that, imediately after Clinton pardoned him, he went to back to work on the now-thoroughly-exposed-as-corrupt Oil-for-Food program? ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2004, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-will-bush-pardon-before-leaving-office-in-january/269372/51 "2004-12-15T00:28:09Z")
OK, **Bricker** , you’ve had your cheap thrill for the day; any more excitement and you will be awake all night . Mods, please close this thread. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-will-bush-pardon-before-leaving-office-in-january/269372.md?page=2)