Except for a very public airing of the facts and the embarrassment of the people who are responsible from this, from Bill Clinton on down. And I do think Jack Quinn and Eric Holder are both extremely embarrassed today and rightfully so. I don't think embarrassed is an evidentiary concept. Jack Quinn represented his client. The pardon is certainly controversial.
Most people disagree with it.
But where I think some historical perspective can help here is that I think this hearing isn't an unusual thing at all. It's an entirely normal event for an abnormal pardon. And every once in a while these things pop up, and something like what we saw today on the Hill, which does serve the purpose of allowing people to air their differences, occurs. It happened after Gerry Ford pardoned Richard Nixon. Jimmy Carter ran into it on amnesty for Vietnam protesters.