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Email MyBestYears GUEST eCOLUMN
Email MyBestYears GUEST eCOLUMN
STEVE MALZBERG
"I don't know what Arkansan is for chutzpah,
but this is a gigantic case of it." These are the
words of presidential spokesman Tony Snow
at last Thursday's daily press briefing.
What Snow is referring to is the criticism
leveled at President Bush by both former
President Bill Clinton and his wife, Sen. Hillary
Rodham Clinton, over Bush's decision to
commute the prison sentence of former White
House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby.
- ...Bill Clinton's Clemency
for Terrorists
"I don't know what Arkansan is for chutzpah,
but this is a gigantic case of it." These are the
words of presidential spokesman Tony Snow
at last Thursday's daily press briefing.
What Snow is referring to is the criticism
leveled at President Bush by both former
President Bill Clinton and his wife, Sen. Hillary
Rodham Clinton, over Bush's decision to
commute the prison sentence of former White
House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby.
Snow couldn't have said it any better.
Bill Clinton weighed in on the commutation of Libby's prison sentence as if he has no
history of controversy in these matters. "I think there are guidelines for what happens
when somebody is convicted. You've got to understand, this is consistent with their
philosophy; [the Bush administration] believes that they should be able to do what they
want to, and that the law is a minor obstacle."
The blatant hypocrisy of the man who would once again share the White House
is breathtaking. No, I'm not alluding to the fact that Bill Clinton was impeached in 1998
over perjury allegations surrounding the Monica Lewinski affair. I'm not pointing to the
fact that he pardoned 140 people on Jan. 20, 2001, his last day in office. That list
included his half brother Roger, his former HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros and of
course Marc Rich. No, I'm going back to what President Bill Clinton did in August of 1999.
FALN members were busted by the FBI while making bombs and planning to blow up
military offices and rob a Chicago Transit Authority fare collector.
Clinton also defended his actions by noting that to
accept clemency, each terrorist had to sign a form
denouncing terrorism and violence.
Some feel that Bill Clinton did this to help his wife
in her run for the U.S. Senate seat from New York
the following year. It was supposed to get her the
Hispanic vote, although I'm not sure how exactly.
The U.S. House and Senate were so enraged over what Clinton had done that they
condemned the move, 311-41 in the House and by a 95-2 margin in the Senate. The
final resolution said in part: ". . .Whereas the president's offer of clemency to the FALN
terrorists violates longstanding tenets of U.S. counterterrorism policy and whereas the
release of terrorists is an affront to the rule of law, the victims and their families and
every American who believes that violent acts must be punished to the fullest extent of
the law. The making of concessions to terrorists is deplorable and President Clinton
should not have granted clemency to the FALN terrorists."
Yes, Tony Snow is right on the money. It's pure Arkansas chutzpah.
Bill Clinton weighed in on the commutation of Libby's prison sentence as if he has no
history of controversy in these matters. "I think there are guidelines for what happens
when somebody is convicted. You've got to understand, this is consistent with their
philosophy; [the Bush administration] believes that they should be able to do what they
want to, and that the law is a minor obstacle."
The blatant hypocrisy of the man who would once again share the White House
is breathtaking. No, I'm not alluding to the fact that Bill Clinton was impeached in 1998
over perjury allegations surrounding the Monica Lewinski affair. I'm not pointing to the
fact that he pardoned 140 people on Jan. 20, 2001, his last day in office. That list
included his half brother Roger, his former HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros and of
course Marc Rich. No, I'm going back to what President Bill Clinton did in August of 1999.
- Against the advice of his Justice Department
and against the advice of the FBI, Clinton
offered conditional clemency to 16 jailed
members of the FALN. In the 1970s and early
1980s this Puerto Rican terrorist group set off
more than 130 bombs in the U.S. and Puerto
Rico. In January of 1975 they blew up Fraunces
Tavern during lunchtime here in New York City.
That blast killed four and injured 60 more.
- Why let these thugs out of prison after we had
seen the first World Trade Center bombing, the U.
S. Embassy bombings in Africa, and the bombing
of the USS Cole under Bill Clinton's watch? He
said at the time that the 16 in question were not
actually involved in killing anyone.
- Yet they were all convicted on charges of
conspiracy to commit robbery, bomb-making and
sedition, as well as firearms and explosives
violations.
FALN members were busted by the FBI while making bombs and planning to blow up
military offices and rob a Chicago Transit Authority fare collector.
Clinton also defended his actions by noting that to
accept clemency, each terrorist had to sign a form
denouncing terrorism and violence.
Some feel that Bill Clinton did this to help his wife
in her run for the U.S. Senate seat from New York
the following year. It was supposed to get her the
Hispanic vote, although I'm not sure how exactly.
The U.S. House and Senate were so enraged over what Clinton had done that they
condemned the move, 311-41 in the House and by a 95-2 margin in the Senate. The
final resolution said in part: ". . .Whereas the president's offer of clemency to the FALN
terrorists violates longstanding tenets of U.S. counterterrorism policy and whereas the
release of terrorists is an affront to the rule of law, the victims and their families and
every American who believes that violent acts must be punished to the fullest extent of
the law. The making of concessions to terrorists is deplorable and President Clinton
should not have granted clemency to the FALN terrorists."
Yes, Tony Snow is right on the money. It's pure Arkansas chutzpah.
| The Guest eColumn is reprinted by permission of Steve Malzberg, a radio talk-show host heard nightly on WOR Radio from 9 to 11 PM Eastern Time in New York City and around the nation on the WOR Radio Network. You can hear him online at www.wor710.com. Steve Malzberg has fast become one of America's most recognizable faces and voices on the political talk scene. He has been recognized by Talkers Magazine as one of the nation's, "Top 100 Talk Show Hosts" several times. Steve is a regular panelist on CNN’s Paula Zahn Now and has appeared regularly on the Fox News Channel on shows like Your World with Neil Cavuto, Fox & Friends, Heartland, and The O'Reilly Factor, Steve has also filled in for Joe Scarborough and Monica Crowley on MSNBC. Steve is married to Marie and has one son, Robert. |
