Personally, I think Bill Clinton’s pardoning of Marc Rich was one of the few things he did in his last days in office that was worthwhile. The Republicans and Democrats (and most of the country as far as I can tell) disagree, and nobody seems happy about it.
But it seems like the Republicans are once again overplaying their hand. Newt Gingrich and other Republicans almost created a disaster with by not understanding how far they could go with the impeachment hearings, and a lot of the rhetoric coming from Congressional Republicans seems to indicate they still haven’t learned their lesson.
Whether you agree with it or not, the Constitution is incredibly clear that Clinton can pardon whoever he wants. If Republicans are seriously going to claim that it was improper that Denise Richards bought her husband’s pardon with her huge donations to the Democrats, they might as well line up to have all their own heads chopped off as this sort of thing happens every week in Washington, DC. (And the notion they would indict Denise Rich because her ex-husband gave her money is so absurd, I can’t believe they’re even discussing this publicly).
Give Republicans enough time, though, and somehow they’ll find a way in this mess to make Clinton seem like a sympathetic victim. THey don’t seem to be able to stop the growth of big government, but they do excel at shooting themselves in the foot on a regular basis.