Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Running Out the Clock

There's lots of talk about Bu$hCo can beat all the raps for the multitudinous sins they've committed in office by 'running out the clock'- suing, countersuing, stonewalling, whatever it takes to get to the 'finish line' of Jan 09, then fading off into the sunset. This seems to me to be a pretty iffy proposition.

If they've committed criminal acts, and that seems pretty certain on a pretty broad scale, the statute of limitations is more than likely not set as 'until you leave office'. So, it would seem to me that, if they're prosecutable, they would have a series of problems that are increased by running out the clock.

First, come Jan 09, the odds are much better than even that they will be completely out of power. As it stands now, it is highly unlikely that the Repugs will recapture either house of Congress; it is pretty unlikely, tho not beyond conception, that they will keep the White House. So the political 'atmosphere' will completely against them, or at least, out of their control, come Jan 09. Second, they will (most likely) not be able to claim 'privilege' as they are no longer working for an active President. Third, in the event that they are convicted of something, they will not be able to count on a Presidential pardon (and the more that are convicted, the longer it's likely to be before a 'friendly' Pres gets back into the WH to pardon them.

So, running out the clock doesn't seem, to me, anyway, to be a very smart option. Of course, these guys have demonstrated repeatedly an inability to choose the smart option.

(This is all, of course, assuming there IS an election in 08. It wouldn't surprise me at all if sometime next year, something happened that called on Dumbfuck to declare martial law and cancel the elections til it's safer to have them (say 2199?) My faith in these guys is limitless (at least, in the negative))

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