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March 26, 2007
The Latest from Robert Novak
Robert Novak's latest column, A President All Alone, discusses Bush's distance - even isolation - from congressional Republicans, and their chagrin at ongoing revelations of Bush administration incompetence.
"We always have claimed that we were the party of better management," one House leader told me. "How can we claim that anymore?"
But the final paragraphs in the article is what really grabbed my attention.
A few Republicans blame incessant attacks from the new Democratic majority in Congress for that image [of endless incompetence]. Many more say today's problems in the administration derive from the continuing impact of yesterday's mistakes. The answer that is not entertained by the president's most severe GOP critics, even when not speaking for quotation, is that this is just the governing style of George W. Bush and will not change while he is in the Oval Office.I'm wondering who that anonymous source is for the quotation about Libby - as each official refracts a different experience of the President. Is this a close reflection? Or one with high built in distortion?Regarding Libby and Gonzales, unofficial word from the White House is not reassuring. One credible source says the president will never -- not even on the way out of office in January 2009 -- pardon Libby. Another equally good source says the president will never ask Gonzales to resign. That exactly reverses the prevailing Republican opinion in Congress. Bush is alone.
We know that Novak is paleocon-ish; he definitely has a point of view on Bush in disagreeing with him on policy matters. Are his chosen sources representing this POV as well, or has disillusion become more widespread. Because the picture of Bush he is painting in the last paragraph is sure not a pretty one - it's very arrogant and self absorbed. As opposed to the picture of Bush of being overly loyal to the people who work for him.
It would reflect terribly on Bush, and would be disillusioning and disheartening both, if Tenet ends up with the Presidential Medal of Freedom - which he already has - while Libby ends up in jail.
What do we think? At least we know that there will be a high burden of competence demanded from all candidates in the next election. And that burden will be met by a large number of them.
Alcibiades | 03/26/07 at 11:16 AM | Categories: - From Sea to Shining Sea
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Comments
Libby is a casualty of the war on terror. He can walk, breathe, probably eventually work for an investment banking firm or drive a truck. For Bush to pardon him would be to spit into the public relations wind, which, if that was all that was involved, wouldn't be so bad. It's up to Giuliani to pardon Libby, should G. be elected, to signal that his days as an over prosecutor are over, except for the Sulzberger media to whom he will signal if they have skin it is just that many millimeters too much. As far as Gonzales is concerned, I'm remnded of the joke about being the husband who makes the important decisions, 'What our foreign policy should be etc.;' I'm going to work in the garden. Patterico had a column which suggested that the decisions were reasonable, also showing selctive, adverse of couse, quoting from offical records by the LA Times.
michael | March 26, 2007 02:03 PM
Libby is a casualty of the war on terror. He can walk, breathe, probably eventually work for an investment banking firm or drive a truck. For Bush to pardon him would be to spit into the public relations wind, which, if that was all that was involved, wouldn't be so bad. It's up to Giuliani to pardon Libby, should G. be elected, to signal that his days as an over prosecutor are over, except for the Sulzberger media to whom he will signal if they have skin it is just that many millimeters too much. As far as Gonzales is concerned, I'm remnded of the joke about being the husband who makes the important decisions, 'What our foreign policy should be etc.;' I'm going to work in the garden. Patterico had a column which suggested that the decisions were within reason, also showing selctive, adverse of couse, quoting from offical records by the LA Times.
michael | March 26, 2007 02:04 PM
