President Bush pardons Brooklyn home scammer

[DogPoundPup]

Source: New York Daily News

President Bush pardoned a Brooklyn real estate developer accused of scamming hundreds of poor, minority homebuyers - and whose father donated $28,500 to the Republican Party this year.

Bush pardoned Isaac Toussie, 36, two days before Christmas in a gesture of mercy that outraged ex-customers who said they were duped into buying overpriced, defective homes.

"We're in the middle of a mortgage crisis this is somebody who was alleged to have participated in predatory lending practices," said Peter Seidman, a lawyer who represents 460 people who say they were fleeced.

"To pardon Isaac Toussie is a kick in the teeth to homeowners struggling with mortgages they can't afford."

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2008/12/23/200...

[Warpy]

1. He also pardoned a bunch of people in for pot "crimes."

No, he should never have pardoned Toussie, but I guess if there's a GOP contributor involved and Toussie only ripped off poor folks...

Uh,

[PatrynXX]

33. and still no Leonard Peltier :(

[Warpy]

34. Now there's a reason

I could have strangled Clinton with a smile on my face.

Peltier will likely rot in prison until the FBI guys who railroaded him are all gone to their great reward in the sky.

We can't disgrace them, you know.

[WriteDown]

36. Thanks for remembering him too Warpy .

[WriteDown]

35. I am so glad there are others who remember him.

Thanks!

[Muttocracy]

2. Can someone give me a good reason for the pardon power

I guess it's a check on the judiciary, but one person vs. a panel of judges or a jury?

[pnwmom]

5. Don Siegelman.

Of course, Bush would never pardon someone who was railroaded, like him.

[proud progressive]

7. you're god-damn right i'll give you a good reason.

so the whores in any party can reward their tricks. need i say more?

[47of74]

10. I think it should be limited

I think the founding fathers had nothing but kind motives when they put this in the Constitution. But it's been abused far too often - such as with Ford and his unholy deal with Nixon. And now Bush is sticking his middle finger up at us with his pardon powers. I think there needs to be some sort of limitations on the ability of any President to pardon others. Such as requiring them to wait a certain amount of time, requiring that those found guilty of crimes are required to serve a portion of their sentence, and so on.

I know it would take a Constitutional amendment, but that sounds like a much better amendment than writing bigotry into the Constitution through some marriage amendment (which is the favorite fantasy of 75% of the GOP).

[John Q. Citizen]

12. It's a throw back to royalty. Not a check or a balance.

[Hippo_Tron]

21. That's precisely what the anti-federalists said about it

I take it you aren't a Hamilton fan.

[John Q. Citizen]

38. I'm more of a Jeffersonian

by nature.

[Hippo_Tron]

41. Benjamin Franklin is my personal favorite

He was ahead of his time on slavery and other issues. Hamilton was too authoritarian, although right about the need for a strong federal government. And Jefferson while very correct about individual liberties and separation of church and state had a ridiculous vision for the American economy that involved slaughtering Native Americans and slavery.

[John Q. Citizen]

47. Yes, Ben Franklin. "The only dead president who was never president!"

They were 100 years into the 200 years Indian Wars, as well as a good 100 years into plantation economy in the south at the time.


I was speaking of the authoritarian/libertarian (classical libertarian with a small l) dichotomy more than a literal endorsement of hero worship, although I'm sure they both had their strong partisans at the time.

[Hippo_Tron]

20. Alexander Hamilton argues for it in Federalist #74...

Essentially saying that justice is too cruel if the law must be applied blindly without the ability to make exceptions for certain circumstances. Additionally he felt it would be expedient for the President to have the power so that he could negotiate with potential rebellions promising them clemency, which Washington actually did with the Whiskey Rebellion.

[cstanleytech]

44. Yeah but as we have seen with Nixon, Reagan and Bush Sr

its also been used to cover up the crimes of the president and making him nearly immune from facing punishment for crimes he might commit while in office, makes me wonder if the founding fathers considered it being used in such a manner.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

29. It needs to be done away with, just like lobbying nt

[bluestateguy]

3. Bush's Marc Rich pardon

There had better be a media pile on like there was in 2001.

[TheEuclideanOne]

24. Not Likely - Remember Scooter Libby's commutation?

All the same people that piled on with the Marc Rich pardon suddenly had an endless supply of excuses as to why it was okay to Communute Libby. The good thing about it is that it highlights the hypocracy of the Repbulican party so nicely. There has not been a single thing that the Republican's took a "principled" stance against when Clinton did it that they didn't excuse when Bush did it. If Bush got a blowjob in the Whitehouse, the Republican party, in perfect coordination would be arguing that it helped to keep the country safe so it was okay. They might even support retroactively changing the rules to permit it. It would be retroactive only until first day following the end of Clinton's term though.

[Shardik]

4. $28,500.00 ? Wow, it's cheaper to make a bribe than to hire an attorney. n/t

[Wilms]

8. Might have been the down payment.

[kirby]

6. "this is somebody who was alleged" ...

The guy plead guilty in 2003!!!

The victims' federal suit charged the Toussies lured "inexperienced and low income inner city minority first-time buyers into purchasing homes that they could not afford." The homes were overpriced by up to 50% and often defective, and the cost of mortgage payments was hidden, the suit said.

"The Toussies also fraudulently advertised sponsorship by the NAACP, alleged praise from black celebrities such as Maya Angelou, Whoopi Goldberg and former Mayor David Dinkins...none of whom made any such endorsements," the suit alleges. Toussie's lawyers denied the allegations and said "many plaintiffs were complicit" in the fraud.

[silverojo]

9. He ought to be pardoning those Border Patrol agents - n/t

[sasquatch]

11. No shit

[LiberalHeart]

13. And the guy's now working as a real estate consultant??? Yikes.

[davidthegnome]

15. Not surprising

If it worked once, it should work again. All he has to do is find people (the vast majority of Americans) who are unaware of his twisted scheming. Get out of jail free card... how nice.

[tavalon]

14. Color me shocked

or not.

[McCamy Taylor]

16. Aren't you supposed to repent to get a pardon? His lawyer is claiming he is innocent.

That is not repentance. He is buying a pardon and then will go around bragging that he was innocent. So Bush is saying in effect "I don't like the job my own DOJ did. That guy was innocent."

If he is innocent, he is supposed to appeal--or get a pardon from the next administration saying the last one railroaded me. This is like what Scooter Libby got---a phony prosecution by the Bush DOJ that did not really want to protect consumers.

[mb7588a]

17. I hate the shock factor in these stories...

...why are we ever surprised? And is there really some legitimate legal/constitutional arguments for abolishing the pardon power? Perhaps a slight curtailment would be in order. I for one certainly don't think we should get rid of his clemency/commute power.

[Solly Mack]

18. True to form

[xxqqqzme]

19. '..."To pardon Isaac Toussie is a kick in the teeth

to homeowners struggling with mortgages they can't afford."...'

Of course it is! That is exactly why he got a * pardon. Isn't that what rethugs are all about? * gives the finger to all struggling under his monumental f#ck-ups.

[jmowreader]

22. Bush damn well BETTER pardon Michael Milken now!

Milken got busted on technical violations largely so Rudy Giuliani could hang the biggest scalp of them all from his belt. Isaac Toussie got busted on genuine Financial Fraud.

[pinniped]

23. Just about everyone on the planet has been kicked in the teeth by the boy monkey.

Welcome to the club.

"To pardon Isaac Toussie is a kick in the teeth to homeowners struggling with mortgages they can't afford."

[proud2BlibKansan]

25. He scammed the poor; he deserves a GOP medal

[smiley]

26. "No high-profile lawbreakers were on the list."

"Charles Winters, a Miami businessman considered a hero in Israel, was listed in a batch of 19 pardons and one commutation that Bush issued before leaving for Camp David to spend the holidays. No high-profile lawbreakers were on the list."


http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-politics-whitehous...

[tom_paine]

28. Ah, the American M$M: Licking the boots of tyrants since 1980 (and who knows how long before THAT)

Just doing their job. Keeping the peasants calm, running interference and spraying squid ink into the waters for their Masters.

I am still amazed. I always thought, up until now, when I have seen it so many times with my own eyes there can be ZERO DOUBT, that State Criminals would have to use Nazi-level violence and intimidation (and threats to family members, women and children, etc.) to get this level of complicity.

Was I EVER WRONG!!!

[smiley]

39. No you were not wrong!

As we all know the media is a waste of time as far as telling us the truth about anything. The powers that be enjoy spoon feeding us with only what they feel we should know.

[tom_paine]

27. That one hell of a return on a $28,500 investment!

Priceless...

[SpiralHawk]

30. How perfectly Republicon

ptoooey

[superconnected]

31. Disgusting.

[Auggie]

32. Tip of the iceberg, I bet. Just wait...

[L0oniX]

37. There he goes again ...protecting America from terrorists. Freaking ASSCARROT!

[Stuart G]

40. I wish everyone could read the story in the Daily News(first post).Bush's true legacy..

[Stuart G]

42. I am not sure I read this correctly...the asshole unpardoned the pardon..

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/12/24/bush-revokes-p...

I actually do not believe this..but he does things people don't believe..

[LiberalHeart]

45. Yep, it's true. I just posted about it over in General Discussion.

Crazy.

[George II]

43. PARDON WAS REVERSED TODAY!!!!!!

[cstanleytech]

46. Really? Last I recall reading on CNN was that it was just being looked into because it hasnt been 5

years since the guy got out of prison and the guidelines I guess are that the person has to have been out of prison for 5 years before they will consider passing it on to the president, which brings up a question.
If a persons on death row or serving life then how can they ask for a pardon even from the president?

[IndianaGreen]

48. The Constitution says nothing about reversing a pardon. Bush has broken the law, again!

The power to pardon is absolute! The Constitution does not give a President the power to reverse or annul a pardon, and rightly so, for a future President may come in and reverse a pardon given by one of his predecessors.

[truthisfreedom]

49. Another do-over bush can't do?

"asked if he still would have gone to war if he knew that Iraq did not possess those weapons "That is a do-over that I can't do.'' "

from here:

http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2008/12...