andrewsullivan.com

ISN'T IT RICH?: Great piece by Isikoff in the new Newsweek on the Clinton-Barak phone-calls about the Rich pardon. Remember all those apparatchiks who popped up on talk shows to defend Clinton's pardon of Rich by saying the president was obviously over-worked, exhausted, trying to do a friend a favor, didn't appreciate the consequences, and so on? The phone transcripts show what any sensible person would have assumed anyway. Clinton knew full well what he was doing. He knew how unprecedented the pardon was. And he knew the pay-off for him and his allies could be huge. So he rolled the dice one last time, and figured he'd just tough out the chorus of criticism. I wonder what contempt Clinton must feel for those poor souls still going out there to defend his honor. Does he sit back and laugh his head off as Paul Begala goes on television one more time to defend the indefensible? I stand by my assessment of the pardons at the time. They were the final sign that we had a seriously dangerous man in the White House for eight years. By the end of his term, he was convinced he could get away with anything. And you know what? He was right. Thank God for the 22d Amendment.

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001