“Bushies” as those loyal to President Bush are called, have been a driving force behind his success for many years. Karl Rove, Alberto Gonzales, and Harriet E. Miers have been with him for 10 years or move, dating back to his days as Texas governor. For their loyalty, they were given plum positions in his administration, as is the rule in politics. Rove is his top political advisor (some would say his Svengali), Gonzales the Attorney General, and until January, Miers was his chief White House counsel.
While serving her tenure as counsel, Miers seemed out of her element, clearly a benefactor of party loyalty, and the stanch soldier doing as she was told. She had remained quietly in the wings until Bush’s ill-advised nomination of her for the Supreme Court. Suddenly she was cast in an unflattering spotlight, with even conservatives touting her lack of intellect and experience. She left her position in January.
Apparently loyalty to Bushies only goes as far as the front door of the White House. Caught up in the center of the Justice Department storm over the firing of eight U.S. attorneys, Rove and Gonzales started pointing fingers at Miers, saying she was the one who asked for the resignations. However, on Friday White House spokesman Tony Snow said that might not be the case and added, “At this juncture, people have hazy memories.”
Hazy memories? More like selective memories.
It appears the White House has tried to regroup, after their bungled attempt to explain the basis for the mass firing. The reasons for the firings change daily, depending on whom you are talking to from the Justice Department or the White House. There is no consistency in any of the stories, which leads one to believe there is not a thread of truth running through them.
Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty testified on Feb. 6 that the dismissals were made for performance reasons, although all had stellar reviews. However one in particular, he stated, H.E. Cummins III was bumped to make room for a political ally of Rove. These statements angered the fired prosecutors, who then agreed to testify at a Senate hearing, even though some received veiled threats from the Justice Department not to speak about the dismissals.
As the Justice Department tried to control the firestorm regarding the firings, they seemed to bungle it more. After McNulty spilled the beans, Gonzales was “extremely upset” according to e-mails released Monday (yesterday). He responded with vague statements such as “mistakes were made”, and “he (McNulty) was not given all the information.” Translation: McNulty wasn’t supposed to say that. In March, D. Kyle Sampson, Gonzales’ chief of staff abruptly resigned. In other words, he was thrown out as a sacrificial lamb.
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) was not impressed. “Kyle Sampson will not become the next Scooter Libby, the next fall guy. The cloud over the Justice Department is getting darker and darker.” (Washington Post 3/14/07)
In an e-mail between Tasia Scolinos and Brian Roehrkasse, both spokespeople for the Justice Department regarding the statements by McNulty said, “I think from a straight news perspective we just want the stories to die.”
In the same vein, the arrogance of Karl Rove while speaking at a university last week was palpable as he dismissed the controversy as groundless. “We’re at a point where people want to play politics with it,” he said.
What Bush and his insiders fail to understand is that it is no longer business as usual on the hill. There are new people in charge and it’s not them. Vague denials, stonewalling or changing stories, which has been the derigueur for this administration since day one, are no longer acceptable. Now that the Democrats have subpoena power they intend to use it, beginning with Rove, Gonzales and Miers.
“This is not going to go away,” warned Joseph E. Digenova, a former U.S. attorney during the Reagan administration. “I’m sure the president is going to let it go as long as he can….but there’s only so much bleeding he can take.” (LA Times, 3/18/07)
It’s time for the President to cut his losses. Insiders who had once been assets have now become liabilities. Their arrogance and ignorance have finally caught up with them. Nothing will happen to Rove, he’s like Teflon, and the White House wagons have already circled around him. However, Gonzales’ handling of the dismissals has been sloppy at best, and worse, he has used the Justice Department as a political playground. His foot, and rightfully so, is practically out the door.
Cheri Cabot, Politics Correspondent
Cheri’s column, “Personal About Politics”, published every Tuesday, will reflect on how the life of a 57 year-old, middle class woman is affected by politics, policy and the current state of the nation - a look at the personal aspects of politics. The articles will be posted to Politics.gather.com as part of Gather Essentials.
Cheri is a single teacher and writer, living in Southern California. She has two grown children, one in Iowa and one at Columbia University, and is the proud grandmother of two. Cheri is also a purveyor of fine coffee, warm chatter and dry wit.
You can find all of Cheri’s columns on Personal About Politics at www.ccabot.gather.com. Keep up with Cheri’s other postings and Gather activity by joining her Gather network at www.ccabot.gather.com, and select the orange “Connect” button on the left-hand side of the page.
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Comments: 53
He never thought that he would lose control of all 3 branches of the federal government. He never thought he would cease to be an almost-dictator. He seriously believed Karl Rove telling him that he had "the real numbers" for the 2006 election.
*smile* I notice the chimp isn't smirking quite so much lately...
What is really distressing is the notion that George Bush believes he is able to still fool the people with his face twisted and strained pleading for patience, trust us, we all know best, Baghdad will not be won in a week, a month, a year or 5 years.
He now would have you believe that the firing of 8 US Attorneys was pure and simple ridding the staff of incompetent lawyers even though they had very favorable job assessments. Well let us see what the facts are now George.
Here is another instance where the "memory" excuse is being used. The "Court of Bush" is rife with no, hazy, weak, unreliable and false memories of their statements, jobs and responsiblilties. Everytime I hear this excuse I can't help but wonder what other important things they have "forgotten". My big question - Where is the football? Who has the football?.
Namaste, Wayne
Jeffery, Screen names can be anything. Purely hypothetically speaking, how do I know your real name is Jeffery McNary? Should we be required to post our name, address, SSN, full face and profile photo, fingerprint, and a DNA sample before commenting on politics? Even then, who's to say that all the information came from the poster and not from some victim of identity theft?
As far as I know, I'm a real person. The really odd thing is I have only one Gather identity.
This is all the liberal media's fault. That and the facts just upset the apple cart. Can't we all just get along?
non-denial denials of the Nixon/Watergate era. I just heard Bush say he supports Gonzales. That's pretty much a death knell.
thanks for all the comments!
Took long enough to blame Bill eh durham..............................
KOROS HUBRIS ATE - "Pride goeth before a fall " {THe Greek formula for tragedy}
Personally, I think Gonzales should fire every single US Attorney and then resign after the firings have taken effect.
It had become standard practice to terminate all US Attorneys at the end of their 4 year term. Before her resignation Myers, reportedly, recommended to do this again. This course of action was rejected and 8 were not "rehired" for a second term. It was reported that these 8 had constituent complaints against them among other complaints. This helped influence the decision.
All had ongoing investigations and only 4, as reported, were against Democrats. There were even investigations against Republicans. I have not seen the basis for these investigations but it seems that there was no common thread, ie Bush opponents.
Choosing not to rehire the Attorneys has always been the discretion of the Office of the President. Congress, in their infinite wisdom, decided to abdicate their authority of approving replacements. The Senate has voted to rescinded this portion of the Patriot Act.
In the lead up to the replacement of the Attorneys, I believe the time line places it before the official decision was made, Gonzales made a promise to still present to the Senate which would be removed and who would replace them. He went against this promise which started the brouhaha. Errors made and statements given cast doubt and suspicion on the process, even for me. Errors made and statements given gives the appearance that this is just another political witch hunt. As long as the Bush Bashers continue to muddy the waters it will be difficult for the truth to come out. Or, is it the truth that they are trying to hide?
Obviously you didn't read the article carefully....I stated that Miers left in January. I was just pointing out that she is still involved in this situation.
If you are going to be critical get your facts straight.
I thought you wacky wingnuts despised Clinton? Why is it that everytime your precious little cheerleader pretendident gets caught with his hand in the cookie jar, you bring up Clinton as justification for your boy's actions? If you hate Clinton so much, why is it that he's now the key defense that you have to justify your boy's actions? Does this concern you at all, and has it caused you to revisit your hatred of Bill Clinton and his policies, or is it just another example of your blinding hypocrisy?
Meanwhile, back in reality-land, presidents HAVE jettisoned all US attorneys upon taking office, as Clinton did. He did NOT remove those that he selected as appointments at a later date merely because they weren't partisan enough for him, however, which is what your boy did. It may very well be that they also obstructed justice once again, this time by removing US attorneys while in the midst of serious criminal investigations. Oh, and the also lied about it.
You folks may not have met Hugh Jass or Larry French yet.
Somebody was not competent here on a basic level. Republicans are fond of spitting on the memory of Jimmy Carter's "Georgia Mafia"- well it looks like GWB's "Texas hit squad" were also hired for loyalty rather than competence.
Just can't wait till 2008.(GOOD slogan)
Maybe when bush leaves the World Court will take a shot at him ,if congress chickens out again.
The other issue that bothers me is that of Carol Lam. She put Randy "Duke" Cunningham in jail, and as she began to widen the scope of the bibery investication, which she called 'breathtaking in scope', she too was fired....two days after issuing two major indictments. Not coincidence.
Bush offering his support.
Support from this lame duck President is the Kiss of Death.
Ask Donald Rumsfeld, Michael D. Brown and Scooter Libby.
"In an investigation into whether seven U.S. attorneys were fired for political rather than professional reasons, the Justice Department on Monday handed over 3,000 pages of documents to the House and Senate Judiciary committees.
But the documents included no correspondence about the firings in the critical time period between November 15, 2005, and December 2, 2006, right before the attorneys were asked for their resignations."
I am sure there are reasons for not turning over all the documents.
So this week I think we have new Don impersonators, or are they one and the same?? Rove-- come out of the closet and step forward.
Congratulations on another timely piece that hits the heart of this nation.