Sid Blumenthal's new book, How Bush Rules: Chronicles of a Radical Regime, provides a great benchmark for evaluating what I believe is a new phase in the Bush Presidency. Sid's collection of essays certainly documents the devious, nasty tactics Bush and his boys have employed during their tenure in the White House to date. However, several events this week suggest the act is wearing thin and may be over. Let's start with the hunt/non hunt for bin Laden. [...]
What in the hell? Bush has been on so many sides of this issue that he is giving new meaning to flip flop. First it was dead or alive, followed by "bin Laden, I don't think much about him." Then, a couple of weeks ago, we heard "bin Laden/Saddam/9-11" repeated ad nauseam. And now, he's a low priority. Plus, note that Bush, who vowed to fight terrorism as a military threat instead of relying on that silly Clinton policy of law enforcement and intelligence, now believes, based on what Freddie Barnes reports, that Clinton's vision of catching terrorists based on intelligence is spot on.
The there was today's smackdown on Capitol Hill. Senators McCain, Warner, Graham, and Collins - Republicans all - delivered a major league bitch slapping to Bush. The president trotted up to the Hill with political master Rove in tow, fully expecting to bully the senators into signing off on a legal theory for secret tribunals more appropriate to Stalin's Soviet Union. NYET. Buttressed by tough letters from former secretary of state Colin Powell and former head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General John Vessey, the Senate Armed Services Committee stiffed the president. This was akin to that moment during the Watergate Hearings when Senator Howard Baker went after President Nixon. At least some Republicans have found their conscience and declined to surrender their honor for political expediency. Now, that's the Republican Party I joined.
This is something new. The Bush/Rove playbook on display in Sid's excellent work is not working well right now. Bush wants Republicans to run as tough terrorist fighters. Yet, it is tough to run on combating terrorism when your president says it is not a priority to find the man responsible for 9-11 but it is important to flout the law and leave loopholes for torture. Let's hope this marks a watershed moment.
I hope his party and the nation gives him a woodshed moment. The boy needs taken down a peg. And then impeached .
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