To which the answer is: Very, very close to the end of the term. They will raise such a firestorm there will be a major PR campaign to take attention away from the more political of them. Presidents really don't want to be asked about them while still in power.

What Bush will do is make a further mockery of the idea the US is a nation of laws.

What Bush might do, though, in order to avoid political embarassment is throw some of the further underlings under the bus. You can count on pardons for most of the people who, if tried, could reveal material Cheney doesn't want revealed.

Richard Nixon was so eager to be pardoned himself he left everyone else to be accountable knowing that the public wouldn't tolerate no accountability. He really threw a f--k into Haldeman and Erlichmann and everyone else who did their best for him.

Clinton's abuse of the pardon power was done late at night, under the cover of darkness, only Clinton's pardons were greed-inspired. For a variety of reasons I have no idea how anyone can respect the man, but his abuse of the pardon process could stand alone in that regard.

I'd be curious to know why you think they won't happen. On the surface that seems silly, unless you are logic-chopping the word "blanket".

Arf