Word: lateraling
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...That meant taking up the pardon question again was, as a West Wing veteran put it later, like passing a kidney stone - for the second time. Bolten declined to take a stand, according to several associates. Instead, he lateraled the issue to Fielding, claiming that a legal, not a political, call was required. If the counsel's office decided a pardon wasn't merited, says an official involved in the discussions, everyone else would have cover with Cheney. "They could say, Our hands are tied - our lawyers said the guy was guilty." (See the top 10 unfortunate political one-liners...
...days later, about a week before they would become private citizens, Bush pulled Cheney aside after a morning meeting and told him there would be no pardon. Cheney looked stricken. Most officials respond to a presidential rebuff with a polite thanks for considering the request in the first place. But Cheney, an observer says, "expressed his disappointment and disagreement with the decision ... He didn't take it well...
...before both men left office, Bush informed Cheney that Libby would not get a pardon. On Inauguration Day, the outgoing Vice President gave a warm tribute to Bush in a private ceremony as the President prepared to leave Andrews Air Force Base for Texas. A day later, Cheney gave an interview to a conservative magazine, saying he disagreed with the President's decision on the Libby pardon. Other Libby backers were quoted in the article, calling Bush "dishonorable" and saying he had left a soldier on the battlefield, language Cheney had used throughout the debate over the pardon. Bush believes...
Tiny though it may be, that victory promises to throw countless shop doors open every Sunday around France from here on out. The law - which supporters hope will go into effect later this year - designates about 500 spots with "tourism interests" that may start doing business on Sundays to exploit the presence of vacationing visitors. It similarly liberalizes trading in border regions where, in some areas, French stores that close one day a week lose out to rivals across the frontier who are allowed to stay open les dimanches...
Both the U.S. and Georgian governments later denied that any negotiations were being held. But State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said the U.S. had not ruled out rearming Georgia, whose military was crushed during its brief war with Russia last August. The possibility of such a deal, or even the discussion of it, puts the Obama Administration in a difficult position, forced to choose between a reset of relations with Russia or indulging Saakashvili's request. "It is a huge political mistake to support Saakashvili. By giving him weapons, the U.S. would be putting guns in the hands...