March 6, 2007

Up Next for Libby: How to Get Pardoned

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


libby110.jpg The pressing question for Scooter Libby, now that he’s been convicted on four of the five counts against him and faces 25 years in prison, is how to get off the hook. Who will pardon him and when? The answer to the first question is Bush, probably, but would W. really do it in the middle of the 2008 presidential campaign? That would surely sink the already rickety Republican ship.

Libby is to be sentenced in June and cynical professionals in Washington don’t expect him to do any jail time. They know he’ll get off one way or another. Key pardons of the past:

  • President Jerry Ford pardoned Richard Nixon for official misconduct on September 8,1974. Of course, that was after Nixon resigned. At the time polls showed Americans were against the pardon.
  • Jimmy Carter pardoned Vietnam war resisters.
  • George H.W. Bush pardoned 75 people. They included six top Reagan administration officials tied up in the Iran contra scandal. (Bush senior owed his very political existence to Reagan. Reagan trounced him in the Republicans primaries in ’80, then magnanimously offered him the vice presidency, which the Connecticut blueblood grabbed.) Casper Weinberger, secretary of Defense, was convicted of lying to the independent counsel. He was pardoned by Bush Sr.
  • Clinton pardoned billionaire Marc Rich.
    •

    — James Ridgeway

    AN IMPORTANT UPDATE ON MOTHER JONES' FINANCES

    We need to start being more upfront about how hard it is keeping a newsroom like Mother Jones afloat these days.

    Because it is, and because we're fresh off finishing a fiscal year, on June 30, that came up a bit short of where we needed to be. And this next one simply has to be a year of growth—particularly for donations from online readers to help counter the brutal economics of journalism right now.

    Straight up: We need this pitch, what you're reading right now, to start earning significantly more donations than normal. We need people who care enough about Mother Jones’ journalism to be reading a blurb like this to decide to pitch in and support it if you can right now.

    Urgent, for sure. But it's not all doom and gloom!

    Because over the challenging last year, and thanks to feedback from readers, we've started to see a better way to go about asking you to support our work: Level-headedly communicating the urgency of hitting our fundraising goals, being transparent about our finances, challenges, and opportunities, and explaining how being funded primarily by donations big and small, from ordinary (and extraordinary!) people like you, is the thing that lets us do the type of journalism you look to Mother Jones for—that is so very much needed right now.

    And it's really been resonating with folks! Thankfully. Because corporations, powerful people with deep pockets, and market forces will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. Only people like you will.

    There's more about our finances in "News Never Pays," or "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," and we'll have details about the year ahead for you soon. But we already know this: The fundraising for our next deadline, $350,000 by the time September 30 rolls around, has to start now, and it has to be stronger than normal so that we don't fall behind and risk coming up short again.

    Please consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

    —Monika Bauerlein, CEO, and Brian Hiatt, Online Membership Director

    payment methods

    AN IMPORTANT UPDATE ON MOTHER JONES' FINANCES

    We need to start being more upfront about how hard it is keeping a newsroom like Mother Jones afloat these days.

    Because it is, and because we're fresh off finishing a fiscal year, on June 30, that came up a bit short of where we needed to be. And this next one simply has to be a year of growth—particularly for donations from online readers to help counter the brutal economics of journalism right now.

    Straight up: We need this pitch, what you're reading right now, to start earning significantly more donations than normal. We need people who care enough about Mother Jones’ journalism to be reading a blurb like this to decide to pitch in and support it if you can right now.

    Urgent, for sure. But it's not all doom and gloom!

    Because over the challenging last year, and thanks to feedback from readers, we've started to see a better way to go about asking you to support our work: Level-headedly communicating the urgency of hitting our fundraising goals, being transparent about our finances, challenges, and opportunities, and explaining how being funded primarily by donations big and small, from ordinary (and extraordinary!) people like you, is the thing that lets us do the type of journalism you look to Mother Jones for—that is so very much needed right now.

    And it's really been resonating with folks! Thankfully. Because corporations, powerful people with deep pockets, and market forces will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. Only people like you will.

    There's more about our finances in "News Never Pays," or "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," and we'll have details about the year ahead for you soon. But we already know this: The fundraising for our next deadline, $350,000 by the time September 30 rolls around, has to start now, and it has to be stronger than normal so that we don't fall behind and risk coming up short again.

    Please consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

    —Monika Bauerlein, CEO, and Brian Hiatt, Online Membership Director

    payment methods

    We Recommend

    Latest

    Sign up for our free newsletter

    Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

    Get our award-winning magazine

    Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

    Subscribe

    Support our journalism

    Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

    Donate