cross posted from The Dream Antilles
How very awkward. And how very typical. On December 24, Preznit Bush suddenly became concerned about appearances and revoked a pardon he gave New York real estate developer Isaac Toussie the day before, after reports surfaced that Toussie’s family gave almost $40,000 to Republicans.
Of course, the White House mouthpiece immediately took the story through a muddy spin cycle:
White House press secretary Dana Perino said neither Bush nor counsel Fred Fielding was aware of the GOP contributions from the father of Isaac Robert Toussie, who had been convicted of mail fraud and of making false statements to the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Perino said Bush had also been unaware of other aspects of the Toussie case that were revealed in news reports yesterday.
“Looking at the totality of the case, more could have been described to the president,” Perino said. “The political contributions certainly were not known. It raises the appearance of impropriety, so the president prudently decided not to go through with the pardon.”