I Can't Get Behind That: Special Scandal Edition!

I can't get behind presidential pardons.

I won't regurgitate all of the outrage that has been spewed in response to Scooter Libby's pardon commutation. I'll merely defer to the smarter people: what they said.

But here's the question I haven't yet heard discussed: why should the President have pardon power at all? We have plenty of appeals processes in place to give convicted criminals ample avenues to get out of jail. Why should the President be able to trump the court system? It really does seem like the kind of power a King should have, not a democratically elected (well, supposedly) President.

Or, at the very, very least, shouldn't the President be barred from pardoning anyone who served in his administration? Isn't there just a slight conflict of interest there?

And how long do you think it will be before Scooter Libby is awarded some Presidential Medal? You know its gonna happen at some point. Some day we'll see Bush on TV, at a podium, along side which will stand Rummy, Brownie, Condi, Libby, Gonzie (hey, best I could do) and all the other champions of the "honor and integrity" that Bush promised to bring to Washington. And he'll place shiny medals around each of their necks and say to each of them: "Heck of a job."