That's one of the beauties of having an impartial civil service as the cornerstone of your governmental machine. 
Did Bush Jr do much in his last few months of office, other than pardon a few crooks? 
General Election 2010 Page 2
Quote: DaButt @ December 22 2009, 12:14 AM GMTIt's 77 days between the election on November 4th and the inauguration on January 20th. There's a huge amount of work to be done in that time and I don't think anyone would be able to just step in and assume control the next day. The administrations work together to make the transition smooth and there are an incredible number of cabinet positions to fill, personnel to vet, briefings to prepare, etc. Hell, it would be next to impossible to move thousands of people thousands of miles into thousands of offices in just a few days.
We manage.
Quote: Oldrocker @ December 22 2009, 12:17 AM GMTWe manage.
Yep, the British way is a couple of removal vans for the furniture. 
Quote: Tim Walker @ December 22 2009, 12:16 AM GMTDid Bush Jr do much in his last few months of office, other than pardon a few crooks?
Bush was the most cautious president in recent memory when it came to pardons. He granted pardons to 189 people who served their entire sentence and commuted the sentences of 11 other people during his entire 8-year term. Bill Clinton, on the other hand, pardoned 140 people on the final day of his presidency.
Quote: DaButt @ December 22 2009, 12:27 AM GMTpardoned 140 people on the final day of his presidency.
Wow. That's a lot of interns.
Quote: Tim Walker @ December 22 2009, 12:29 AM GMTWow. That's a lot of interns.
There's no way he could have rounded up that many young sluts in less than 77 days!
Quote: DaButt @ December 22 2009, 12:39 AM GMTThere's no way he could have rounded up that many young sluts in less than 77 days!
You don't know Bill!
Quote: bigfella @ December 21 2009, 8:59 PM GMTAnyone else think that Gordon Brown has just screwed any chance he had of winning by agreeing to the live TV debates?
I don't think anybody will really watch or care. By about that time World Cup fever will be starting to take hold. And the result is pretty much a foregone conclusion. Both of the World Cup and the election.
This pardoning is bullshit. The law is the law.
I think Nick Clegg could swing the vote with a debate. He's quite charismatic and isn't a hairless androdyne clone like Cameron or a bearsuit full of shite like Brown.
Quote: sootyj @ December 22 2009, 10:52 AM GMTI think Nick Clegg could swing the vote with a debate. He's quite charismatic
You!! Always with the satire!!
I like Clegg he's the Robin to Vince Cable's Batman.
Vince Cable's very good. Clegg's never done much for me, though. He always strikes me as a third generation Blair clone.
Buba and Dubya were both sleazy crooks who wouldn't pass a CRB as an assisstant floor mopper in a fish farm.
Dubya just had higher level friends who didn't need anything as gay as a presidential pardon to get away with shit.
Quote: sootyj @ December 22 2009, 10:52 AM GMTI think Nick Clegg could swing the vote with a debate. He's quite charismatic
but totally irrelevant.
I never got the pardoning thing. So what the president just picks certain people he believes are innocent or what? What's the process?
Quote: Paul W @ December 22 2009, 5:44 PM GMTI never got the pardoning thing. So what the president just picks certain people he believes are innocent or what? What's the process?
You just have to ask the president for a pardon, but it's typically done by a politician. Most people have already served their full sentence, so the pardon just removes the consequences of the conviction, such as the loss of the right to vote or possess firearms.
Sometimes the president will pardon a staff member or government employee who "took one for the team" after being caught doing something naughty in service to the president and/or the nation.