Me-thinks Bush is about to quietly pardon somebody big, rich and important to the GOP because they are making a big deal about pardoning some dude who is random sad-sack of a character.
Team Bush pulled off a pardon for a guy in the movie Deliverance. Randall Leece Deal had been convicted of running moonshine in the 1960s, and conspiracy to run moonshine.
http://www.cnn.com/...
Running moonshine as many of you Kos Kids know is the genesis of NASCAR.
Pardons are generally saved for the end of a President's term so as to not stir up political fall-out (and can you just imagine already who and how many pardons this bunch is going to need after 8 years of pure unadulterated corruption). Anyway, not this guy - this is done by Bush / Rove as a calculated measure to curry favor with the NASCAR crowd, and...maybe a screen for somebody else. Why else would they bother with somebody running moonshine in the 1960s - these guys are heartless, so "kindness" is just not the right answer. They also slam Clinton in the process by bringing up Marc Rich - they are most definintely up to something...which is never good.
But still, it is fun to look at these two case studies and do a little comparing and contrasting. Moonshine "Squeal-like-a-pig" movie guy vs Tommy Chong.
Our man Tommy Chong. Here is his story from 2003.
http://www.post-gazette.com/...
After describing himself as a former marijuana user who beat drugs by learning to dance to salsa, 65-year-old actor Tommy Chong told a federal judge yesterday that he's now a role model for young people in Los Angeles and wants to help them stay off drugs.
He and his lawyers were hoping for a community service sentence as punishment for distributing thousands of bongs and marijuana pipes online through his California company, Nice Dreams Enterprises.
But Chong, famous for such movies as "Up in Smoke" with longtime partner Cheech Marin, is going to prison instead.
U.S. District Judge Arthur J. Schwab yesterday gave him nine months in a federal lockup and fined him $20,000.
As part of the sentence, Chong forfeited his Internet domain name, Chongglass.com, along with $103,514 in cash and all of the drug paraphernalia seized by federal agents during a raid Feb. 24.
Here's the fun part of this federal investigation known as "Operation Pipe Dreams":
U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan, who appeared in court for the hearing yesterday, said the sentence was significant because it tells the public that "there are consequences for violating the law, even if the violator is a well-known entertainer like Thomas Chong."
Sure. Fine. Fair enough. But what if you are a barely-known actor in a movie that ironically mocks the South as a bunch of backwards ignorant sodomites/rapists who find Ned Beatty attractive in an "unpleasant" experience:
http://www.cnn.com/...
Randall Leece Deal of Clayton, Georgia, had a small role in the film about four Atlanta businessmen who have unpleasant encounters with locals during a north Georgia canoe trip.
For the last 16 years, Deal, 66, has worked at the Rabun County Sheriff's Department, a far cry from his life in the early 1960s when he was convicted on two counts of violating liquor laws and one count of conspiring to violate liquor laws.
------
Deal never served any jail time for the convictions, but the black mark on his record rankled him enough to seek a presidential pardon more than 40 years later. "I just got to thinking about it, you know. Just to get her wiped out if possible," he said.
Never did jail time, convicted during the pinko, commie liberal "weak on crime" administration, and given the pardon by the self-proclaimed tough guys.
More fun with this one:
[Deal] also pointed out that he was not in it for the money, but was more interested in the fun and comaraderie of the enterprise.
"I was just helping some friends back then," he said. "It was really just more like a game than anything, to be honest with you. It wasn't a big business deal, fiddling with moonshine. At least to me it wasn't."
Now, finally, look at this part of the article and tell which parts smack of an orchestrated Rovian PR campaign:
The Justice Department announced Deal's pardon on Wednesday. "I really didn't have an idea what kind of a deal it would be," he said. "But evidently it's a pretty big old deal to get one."
Deal defies the image of the well-connected, deep-pocketed presidential pardon recipient like controversial financier Marc Rich, who received one of President Clinton's final pardons in 2001.
How 'bout that there folksy speechifying...placed right next to a less-than-subtle slam on Clinton. Way to go CNN - if we check your nose for prints what would we find?
2 conlusions:
1) Tommy, if you are listening, see if you can gin up some clever funny narrative about how all you were trying to do was bring joy and laughter to the children...and then work this in:
PARDONS GRANTED BY PRES GEORGE H W BUSH:
Elliott Abrams Pardoned for any and all Iran-Contra crimes.
Aslam P. Adam Clemency for heroin trafficking.
Duane R. Clarridge Pardoned for any and all Iran-Contra crimes.
Edwin L. Cox Pardoned for bank fraud.
Alan Fiers Pardoned for any and all Iran-Contra crimes.
Clair George Pardoned for any and all Iran-Contra crimes.
Armand Hammer Pardoned for making illegal contributions to President
Nixon's 1972 re-election campaign.
Robert C. McFarlane Pardoned for any and all Iran-Contra crimes.
Joseph Occhipinti Commuted sentence for violating the civil rights of accused criminals.
Caspar W. Weinberger Pardoned for any and all Iran-Contra crimes.
I think Aslam Adam may be your most helpful comparison, but that depends upon whether or not he gave away the heroin needles to the needy children of El Salvador and Nicaragua, which you obviously failed to do.
and,
2) Historically, when Bush does something like this so openly, he is simultaneously doing something sneaky and to the contrary. He will soon be pardoning quietly somebody wealthy and generous with the GOP. Delay or Abramoff are too infamous to be done quietly, but there is somebody out there, just you watch.
Until them, file those papers, Tommy. No, stop, don't smoke them. Filing means writi-, oh never mind!
(What really kills me is how these guys curry favor in the South while openly mocking them by higlighting the movie that has been the icon for perceived Southern backwardness - hell, it even comes with theme music.
"You want to call me stupid AND steal from me - well hell, pardner, why didn't you just say so?"
PS - George W Bush is from Connecticut.