Inside the Beltway

No time to write

One would gather that Rep. John Conyers Jr. doesn’t trust President Bush’s judgment when it comes to pardoning people, particularly those who toiled in his White House.

The Michigan Democrat is pushing newly introduced legislation that would require the president to notify Congress upon the pardon of “any Executive Branch employee.”

Mr. Conyers explained: “This notification is necessary because it is possible that the president could pardon an employee of his administration as a means of preventing an investigation from running its course and, perhaps, uncovering information critical of the administration.”

Any case come to mind?

“The need for this legislation came to light as a result of the Justice Department’s investigation into an administration official’s leak of CIA officer Valerie Plame Wilson’s identity,” Mr. Conyers stated when introducing the legislation.

“The indictment of I. Lewis Libby, who was the vice president’s chief of staff, for false statements, perjury, and obstruction of justice in connection with the investigation raised concerns that the president might use his authority to pardon Mr. Libby or other officials involved in serious criminal offenses.”

Mr. Conyers says he is most concerned because Mr. Bush has yet to respond to the letter he sent to him more than a year ago, July 25, 2005, “seeking his assurance that he would not pardon any former or current officials involved in the leak” of Mrs. Plame’s name.

Clowning around

Whether he deserves such depths or not, Virginia Sen. George Allen remains knee-deep in “macaca.”

Everybody from Washington to Ahmadabad has heard by now that Mr. Allen recently resorted to the term “macaca” when drawing attention to one of his Democratic opponent’s dark-skinned campaign workers, who was videotaping the Republican’s campaign remarks.

“Let’s give a welcome to Macaca here. Welcome to America and the real world of Virginia,” were Mr. Allen’s exact words — not derogatory, he insists to critics who label them racially offensive.

Of all the related mail this column received (and there was a ton), perhaps the most revealing comes from Joseph Luchi, a translator who lives in New York City.

“As someone fluent in Italian and of Italian descent, I have used this word quite often,” Mr. Luchi writes. “My mom used this word about myself and my sister many times. It means ‘fool, clown, dummy.’

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