Thread: Navarrette on Ramos and Compean- Still not knowing facts

Facts are the same in border agent story

July 25, 2007

In the Old West, outlaw gangs would sometimes try to sidestep the criminal justice system by busting someone out of jail. Today, that role is being taken up by some members of Congress.

Last week, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing into the case of ex-Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean. The two men were convicted last year of shooting and wounding Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila, an unarmed drug smuggler, along the U.S.-Mexico border and then covering it up by destroying evidence and falsifying reports. Ramos and Compean were sentenced to 11 and 12 years, respectively.

That's too long a stretch in the opinion of Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and John Cornyn, R-Texas. After the hearing, they sent a letter to Bush asking him to commute the sentences.

Bush should afford the request the consideration it deserves, all three seconds worth. Then he should crumple up the letter. When will Congress learn that presidential pardons and other forms of clemency are matters for the executive branch?

Last week, at a town hall-style forum in Nashville, Bush was asked if he would pardon Ramos and Compean. The president refused to make such a promise and instead described as “a dear friendâ€

Good grief....can somebody shut this moron up????????

He never met an illegal he didn't like.