Dumb tweet of the day: Fox contributor compares Arpaio pardon to Manning commutation

From Fox News contributor Katie Pavlich, joining in the chorus of Right-wingers (and some Leftists) defending Trump’s pardon of his racist pal, former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio, by pointing at things President Obama did that they didn’t like:

Your boss pardoned a traitor who gave U.S. enemies state secrets, he also pardoned a terrorist who killed Americans. Spare us the lecture. https://t.co/90jZcPXYqx

— Katie Pavlich (@KatiePavlich) August 27, 2017

That’s a lot of bullshit for 140 characters, especially since it’s all predicated on an obvious falsehood: Obama didn’t pardon either Manning nor the “terrorist”, Oscar López Rivera. He commuted their sentences, cutting their remaining time in prison without clearing their convictions. Here’s how the Justice Department website explains the difference:

A commutation of sentence reduces a sentence, either totally or partially, that is then being served, but it does not change the fact of conviction, imply innocence, or remove civil disabilities that apply to the convicted person as a result of the criminal conviction. […]

A pardon is an expression of the President’s forgiveness and ordinarily is granted in recognition of the applicant’s acceptance of responsibility for the crime and established good conduct for a significant period of time after conviction or completion of sentence.

Incidentally, the above explains perfectly why Trump’s pardon of Arpaio, whilst legal, symbolizes a massive middle-finger aimed at the federal judiciary and the intent behind presidential clemency. Arpaio didn’t remotely “accept responsibility” for his crimes; he routinely bragged about his inhumane treatment of suspected undocumented immigrants, and his open defiance of a federal court order is what earned him a criminal contempt conviction in the first place. Further, Trump didn’t even wait for the court to pass a sentence before jumping in with his pardon, which is the literal opposite of waiting for Arpaio to “establish good conduct for a significant period of time after conviction”. Trump just wanted to make sure his buddy and long-time supporter didn’t get punished for acts that Trump evidently doesn’t consider wrong.

The rest of Pavlich’s tweet is also nonsense. Manning isn’t a traitor, either legally or morally; she didn’t levy war against the US nor aid any enemies, as even the US government has been forced to concede several times. She instead leaked evidence of government wrongdoing to the press in the explicit purpose of educating people about what their government gets up to in their name. Some might call that a necessary right in a free society, though I understand many conservatives take the opposing view.

Then again, many on the Right do consider the media to be the “enemy of the people” nowadays, including the fucking President himself, so maybe anyone who leaks to them now is “aiding the enemy”. Because words don’t mean anything anymore.

As for the “terrorist who killed Americans”, that one’s more complicated. I freely admit my ignorance about the details of Oscar López Rivera’s history. That said, he did spend 32 years in prison, with twelve of them in solitary confinement, for being a member of a group that committed acts of political violence, though he was never evidentially tied to any of their attacks. Human rights advocates claim his sentence was disproportionate to his charges and that he was essentially a political prisoner; and President Clinton even offered him clemency in 1999, though Rivera turned it down.

Regardless, conservatives who once again engage in empty whataboutism to try and defend their dear President’s latest unpopular move are, once again, on the wrong side of things, both ethically and factually. Imagine that.

(via @ggreenwald & @radleybalko)