Autopen ‘folly’ reminds us of Biden’s decline

Jeffrey Blehar of National Review Online ponders the latest controversy involving the last presidential administration.

[T]hank God for good ol’ Joe Biden, still somehow alive, as he comes doddering into frame to shift the discussion away from Trump’s miseries. Yes, the real story this week is that Blunderin’ Joe went out there to remind the world that he still exists, answered a question few were seriously asking, and in so doing created even more problems for himself.

The New York Times has the scoop because it got the interview, one that Biden requested:

In an interview with The New York Times, Mr. Biden said that he had orally granted all the pardons and commutations issued at the end of his term, calling President Trump and other Republicans “liars” for claiming his aides had used an autopen to do so without his authorization.

“I made every decision,” Mr. Biden said in a phone interview on Thursday, asserting that he had his staff use an autopen replicating his signature on the clemency warrants because “we’re talking about a whole lot of people.” …

… But, of course, the story gets even better. … Biden admits in this very same interview that he didn’t actually pay any real attention to whom he was pardoning toward the end of his presidency: He admits that he gave his aides a general list of criteria (i.e., “Pardon anyone who is [X], [Y], and/or [Z]”), and that they then autopenned the pardons on his behalf. This explains why several egregious criminals, including a “black widow” killer and a judge who took bribes to send teens to a for-profit prison, received commutations of their sentences.

All of this rather directly undermines Biden’s claim that he was “in control” and knew what he was doing when he signed all of those pardons: He certainly seems to have no idea whom specifically he was pardoning or if his aides had faithfully applied his criteria.

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