August 28, 2007--Death By A Thousand Cuts

Yesterday it was Fredo’s turn. Last week, Turd Blossom left “to spend more time with his familiy.” Last November, Rummy departed. And then of course there was Brownie, who was doing such a good job. Though it may really be that during the last throes of every administration senior staff leave to sign big-bucks book contracts and/or to take lucrative consulting jobs while they can still get their calls returned, in the case of the Bush administration these staged departures appear to be suspiciously timed to correspond with the need to throw someone to the sharks in order to defuse mounting political criticism and pressure. It should not be surprising that our patrician frat-boy president should behave this way, including with regard to his “friend,” Alberto Gonzales. To him they are all employees and servants. Can any of us picture W hanging with Alberto? Yes, there was that White House photo of them and their wives having a last supper on Friday in Crawford; but out in the yard and in the kitchen of the ranch were the Mex’s compatriots and, who knows, relatives. (By the way, has anyone checked their Green Cards?) To employ the sports analogy that is being applied to Bush, he is attempting to “play out the clock” and escape from Washington without having to take responsibility for anything. Let the next president clean up his mess just the way the family consigliore, Jim Baker, has been called in periodically to get his DWI record fixed, his National Guard service arranged, his presidential election certified, and his Iraq policy salvaged . . . . Well, that didn’t work, did it? But it’s one thing to sneak into Yale as a legacy and have your transcript doctored, and it’s one thing to fall into a no-show job with the Texas Rangers baseball team and walk away with unearned millions; but you can’t walk away from history. Brownie will haunt Dubya’s legacy as will Fredo and Rummy and Kenny Boy and, yes, Big Time, our erstwhile vice president. You’re not at Yale anymore, Mr. President. You’ll need a lot more than the services of the Silver Fox and the Boy Genius.