A conservatory of Ldotter blogs.

Monday, December 13, 2004

Pardon me. . .

. . .but, doesn't it raise at least a few eyebrows that, after having his ex-wife donate over $70,000 to Hillary Clinton's senate campaign, and $450,000 to Bill Clinton's library fund, Marc Rich is now hip-deep in the UN Oil-for-Food scandal? Is it not at least as important as who Bernie Kerik slept with?

On one hand, you have a man nominated to head the Department of Homeland Security who is forced to back out when it comes to light that he failed to pay Social Security taxes on behalf of a nanny whose legal status in the US was questionable. Also, there's apparently some titillating news regarding his family life, to which we'll undoubtedly be treated until something more sensational comes along.

On the other hand, we have a sitting senator and former first lady to a president who both benefitted from cash donations given to them by the wife of a man who was seeking a pardon as a result of his conviction for money laundering -- a conviction for which he not only never served time, but chose to flee US jursidiction in order to avoid doing so.

Is it not telling that the pardon was granted in stealth mode, circumventing every conventional means of review generally given to such pardon considerations? Is it not telling that this pardon was granted to a person whose legal status in the US was far more in question than that of Kerik's nanny?

I previously had hoped that the media would go easy on the sordid details of Kerik's life, but now I'm glad to see the gloves coming off. Because now, unlike in 2001, the blogosphere is in full glory. And there are a lot of people with the tools, skills, and determination to see to it that the truth of the Marc Rich pardon, and the details of his dealings thereafter, will be placed before the public.

Anybody taking odds on Clinton '08?
 

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