Day: July 2, 2007

Now That the Libby Case Is Over, Bush & Cheney No Longer Have an Excuse for Not Talking

Jon Ponder

From the outset, Pres. Bush and Vice Pres. Cheney have brushed aside questions about their involvement in the the CIA leak case first by claiming they could not talk about it while the investigation and subsequently the trial were underway — and more recently because Scooter Libby was appealing his conviction on perjury and obstruction of justice charges.

There are serious questions that require answers about the involvement of the president and the vice president in the conspiracy to out the agent, Valerie Wilson.

Well, it’s all over now. Bush commuted Libby’s sentence. While his appeals will continue, the Libby case is done, and either Bush and Cheney will be forced to answer questions about their involvement, or — and this is much more likely — they’ll have to come up with another, more creative excuse.

There are serious questions that require answers about the involvement of the president and the vice president in the conspiracy to out the agent, Valerie Wilson. Early on, Bush played ignorant, making statements to the effect that when he found the person who leaked Wilson’s identity, that person would be fired and “no longer part of my administration. Many people thought at the time that these statements were false — that within hours of the release of the Bob Novak column that outed Wilson they president was fully briefed on how her name came to be released to the press.

The special prosecutor, Patrick Fitzgerald, was said to suspect that outing Wilson was Cheney’s idea, and that leaking of her name to various journalists was done under his direction.

Perhaps you recall responses from the White House on this matter. Here’s the classic, from the White House press briefing on Oct. 25, 2005:

[…]

Breaking: Bush Commutes Libby’s Sentence

Jon Ponder

So much for the rule of law:

President Bush commuted the sentence of former White House aide I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby on Monday, sparing him from a 2½-year prison term that Bush said was excessive…

“I respect the jury’s verdict,” Bush said in a statement. “But I have concluded that the prison sentence given to Mr. Libby is excessive. Therefore, I am commuting the portion of Mr. Libby’s sentence that required him to spend thirty months in prison.”

After Setting World on Fire, Bush Said to Be ‘at Ease’ Because He Is Doing God’s Will

Jon Ponder

An article up today at the Washington Post catches us up on the inner life of Pres. George Bush at what it calls the nadir of his presidency.

“[The president] seeks guidance, like every other president does, in prayer. And that means trying to be sure he’s +doing the right thing. And if you’ve got that set, all the criticism, it doesn’t faze you very much. You’re answering to God.”
– Theologian who recently met with Bush

What the president’s team wants us to know is that Bush is asking a lot of smart people over to the White House to ask them questions. Here’s my favorite:

After reading Andrew Roberts’s “A History of the English-Speaking Peoples Since 1900,” Bush brought in the author and a dozen other scholars to talk about the lessons. “What can I learn from history?” Bush asked Roberts…

And:

“He asked me, ‘Do you think our unpopularity abroad is a result of my personality?’ And he laughed,” [Irwin M. Stelzer, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute] recalled. “I said, ‘In part.’ And he laughed again.”

Oh, yeah. LOL. That’s rich. “In part.” Very funny.

Despite all this soul searching, people who have been around the president have found him surprisingly unburdened by angst. Henry Kissinger is quoted as saying Bush is “at peace with himself.” Rep. Peter King, a reliable GOP tool from Long Island, says the president is “amazingly calm.” One of the scholars who was brought in said, “My God, he looked well. He looked like he came off a cruise in the Caribbean. He looked like he hadn’t a care in the world. It was amazing.”

What explains the president’s carefree attitude in light of all the damage he has wreaked? You guessed it — he’s on a mission from God:

“His faith is very strong,” said [Michael] Novak, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. “Faith is not enough by itself because there are a lot of people who have faith but weak hearts. But his faith is very strong. He seeks guidance, like every other president does, in prayer. And that means trying to be sure he’s doing the right thing. And if you’ve got that set, all the criticism, it doesn’t faze you very much. You’re answering to God.”

The problem is, the leader of the free world has faith, strong will and a weak mind.

Romney Says Kennel Strapped to Roof to Transport ‘Family Pet’ Was ‘Enclosed’

Jon Ponder

Everything GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney says about his practice of transporting his Irish setter in a kennel strapped to his car roof in the 1980s just makes the whole thing sound worse.

In his latest statement, he seems to have been warned by his spinners not to use the word “dog” — referring to the setter and other dogs he owned four times as “family pets”:

Romney said, “sometimes when the stories come out in the media they don’t quite get it accurate. The kennel that my family pet used to ride in is enclosed. It’s not an open aired kennel. It’s enclosed and there are air vents of course at the back. My family pet used to climb up there and lie down on his own. And we love our family pets. Have always loved our family pets. And have nothing but honor and pride in taking care of great dogs. We’ve had quite a few.”

There is also the matter of the story one of Romney’s sons told about the dog’s poop coming out of the carrier during a trip and sliding down the car window. We’ll assume the “enclosed” kennel was vented at the bottom.

What this reveals, I think, is that Romney is indeed a dumbass. Fortunately for him, being as stupid as a bag of hammers is no longer a disqualifier for the presidency.