Mitt Romney straps his principles to the roof of the car

Mitt Romney, defending George W. Bush’s pardon* of Scooter Libby:

“(The prosecutor in the case”went after somebody even when he knew no crime had been committed. Given that fact, isn’t it reasonable for a commutation of a portion of the sentence to be made?”

Romney, back in his strapping-dog-to-the-roof-of-his-car days:

As governor, Romney twice rejected a pardon for Anthony Circosta, who at age 13 was convicted of assault for shooting another boy in the arm with a BB gun – a shot that didn’t break the skin. Circosta worked his way through college, joined the Army National Guard and led a platoon of 20 soldiers in Iraq’s deadly Sunni triangle.

In 2005, as he was serving in Iraq, he sought a pardon to fulfill his dream of becoming a police officer.

In his presidential bid, Romney often proudly points out that he was the first governor in modern Massachusetts history to deny every request for a pardon or commutation during his four years in office. He says he refused pardons because he didn’t want to overturn a jury.

Are you starting to get the feeling that Barney Frank didn’t pull the phrase “most intellectually dishonest politician in history” out of thin air?

* saying “commutation” feels dishonest. Calling it a pardon sounds reasonable.

–WKW