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Dead Constitution See other Dead Constitution Articles Title: Bush's Barricade (NOVAK) Bush's Barricade By Robert D. Novak A report as routine as the one put out by the Identity Theft Task Force on Monday normally is released without a White House statement, but this time the announcement came from George W. Bush himself. He praised Attorney General Alberto Gonzales "for taking on this difficult and important assignment" in co-chairing the task force. That constituted bad news for Republicans outside the White House, signaling that the president really does intend to keep Gonzales. That Bush went out of his way to support his beleaguered friend from Texas confirmed other signals sent this week; the president's improbable praise for Gonzales's pathetic performance as a witness before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week was no mere gesture. The authoritative word from the White House was that Bush was adamant about retaining Gonzales as attorney general despite Republican demands that the president cut his losses. Vice President Cheney's personal criticism Tuesday of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in a rare statement just off the Senate floor suggested that defense of Gonzales is not an isolated act of defiance. Bush, never entranced with life in Washington, detests dealing with a Democratic Congress. Reflecting annoyance and fatigue, he is unwilling to withstand incessant attacks from the likes of Reid and is ready to fight it out for the over 20 months left in his term. Retaining Gonzales means Bush has slipped behind the barricades. All the Republicans in Congress whom I contacted view this as pure folly. For the long term, they predict that constant war by their president against the majority Democrats would cast a pall on the Republicans' chances of retaining the presidency in 2008. For the shorter term, they foresee nothing but trouble from Gonzales continuing in power. "I cannot imagine," said a House GOP leader who would not be quoted by name, "how [Bush] thinks Gonzales can function effectively with no Republican support." Gonzales's difficulties did not begin with the botched dismissal of U.S. attorneys or his serial memory failures. Much as Bill Clinton sought to replicate in Washington the culture of Little Rock by bringing along Vince Foster and Webster Hubbell, Bush imported such close associates from Austin as Gonzales and Harriet Miers. While the current cliche is that Bush never should have named Gonzales attorney general in the first place, the consensus in the administration was that Gonzales also was at sea in his first post, as White House counsel. Colin Powell, Bush's first-term secretary of state, was so appalled by Gonzales that he shunted contact with him off to Deputy Secretary Richard Armitage, who in turn handed him down to lower levels along the State Department chain of command. Such derision for Gonzales is viewed by Bush as the arrogance of Washington, and he seems determined not to appease that mind-set. For now at least, the president refuses to yield on the grounds that Gonzales -- whatever his shortcomings -- broke no laws. Bush's position, however, may be undermined by an unexpected development this week. It was announced that a little-known agency -- the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, headed by Scott J. Bloch -- has launched an investigation into possible illegal White House political participation in the firing of at least one U.S. attorney. The irony here was not noted in early news accounts. Bloch, a devout Catholic, has been under attack for three years at the independent investigative agency because of his interpretation of statutes covering workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation. He also has been publicly accused of hiring too many Catholics. Clay Johnson, deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget and another Texan brought to Washington by Bush, joined the attack on Bloch, a Bush appointee. The case became a cause celebre on the right when Bloch was told by a prominent Catholic layman close to Bush that it would be better if he resigned. Now, the tables are turned, with Bloch investigating the White House. With the administration in trouble on several fronts, the president barricading himself with Al Gonzales by his side does not help.
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Another sign that Republicans in Congress are turning on Bush. I wonder who that prominent Catholic layman close to Bush is.
To reason, indeed, he was not in the habit of attending. His mode of arguing, if it is to be so called, was one not uncommon among dull and stubborn persons, who are accustomed to be surrounded by their inferiors. He asserted a proposition; and, as often as wiser people ventured respectfully to show that it was erroneous, he asserted it again, in exactly the same words, and conceived that, by doing so, he at once disposed of all objections. - Macaulay, "History of England," Vol. 1, Chapter 6, on James II.
I think I have figured out the derivation of the term "layman" as, in that particular faith, only "laymen" are allowed to get laid. This is off-limits (in theory anyhow) to the Roman Catholic clergy.
The benefits of education and of useful knowledge, generally diffused through a community, are essential to the preservation of a free government. - Sam Houston
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