UPDATE: FLIP FLOP MITT FLOPPING AGAIN-- PARDONS

I don't know if Mitt Romney would pardon Irving Libby (AKA- "Scooter") or not, and chances are slim that we'll ever find out. But at the New Hampshire debate, he certainly tried hard to skirt that issue, as he does on all issues. On the one hand he denounced the respected and admired-- far more respected and far more admired than Romney will ever be-- Federal Prosecutor by accusing him, absurdly, of abusing his prosecutorial powers. On the other hand, he bragged about having never granted a pardon in the entire time he was governor of Massachusetts.

He said he doesn't believe in overturning a jury's decision. To be honest, I like that idea. But, even more, I like the idea of electing a president with insight, moral fiber and character who knows when an executive decision to do just that is called for. Romney clearly is not that kind of man. Yesterday the A.P. illustrated a case where a more capable and qualified leader than Romney would have surely granted a pardon. Let's look at the case of decorated Iraq war veteran Anthony Circosta.

If ever there was a case that came across Romney's desk when he should have considered a pardon, this was one. Twice the Massachusetts Board of Pardons recommended that Romney grant him one-- and twice Romney demurred. Circosta, now 29, wants to be a police officer. But when he was 13 he "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." He won a Bronze Star. WTF did Romney ever accomplish other than by predatory investment practices at vulture capitalists, the Bain private equity firm he founded. But to Romney-- the only person who could pardon Circosta-- the decorated vet was just one of 272 people looking for pardons or commutations, a statistic he wanted to brag about in a future presidential debate. What a scum bag! Mitt Romney really is the bottom of the barrel, even if sexually confused members of the corporate the media-- like Politico's Roger Simon, Fox's Bill O'Reilly, Frank Luntz, and Newsweek's Jonathan Darman and Evan Thomas-- just want to talk, creepily, about what a nice handsome chin and broad shoulders he has.