Bush's Barricade

[rodeodance]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/25/AR2007042502408.html?nav=hcmodule

Bush's Barricade

By Robert D. Novak
Thursday, April 26, 2007; Page A29

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 thinks Gonzales can function effectively with no Republican support."

[irish.lambchop]

1. bush had the same

attitude about rumsfeld - right up until the day after the Nov elections. I still think we're gonna wake up one morning to find that gonzales has 'resigned' for the 'good of the country'.