A 'fresh chance'?
By Steve Benen Monday Aug 27, 2007 7:11amTwo major dailies — the LAT and the NYT — argue that the resignations of Rove and Gonzales offer Bush has a “fresh chance” to turn things around.
[Bush] can go into the next battle with Congress over the Iraq war — as well as another looming fight over legislation authorizing his domestic wiretapping program — free of the baggage both men carried. If the resignations remove some of the partisan tension between the White House and Capitol Hill, and get Mr. Rove and Mr. Gonzales off the front pages, they could help get Mr. Bush off the defensive as he struggles to salvage something of his second term.
And the LAT on the same issue:
“The Texas mafia is leaving,” said Ron Kaufman, a longtime political advisor to the Bush family. “There’s a shift in the philosophies of the appointees you have [around the president]. They are much more creatures of Washington, D.C., and not Austin, Texas.”
But therein may lie an opportunity for Bush. In two weeks, the president has accepted the resignations of the two members of his staff who have drawn the most ire from the Democrats who now control Congress: Gonzales and political advisor Karl Rove. And that may give Bush a chance to salvage his relationship with Capitol Hill and the legacy of his second term.
I think not. Competent or not, Bush is the don of the "Texas Mafia," and there’s simply no reason in the world to believe he’s anxious to turn over a new leaf. Bush doesn’t want to “salvage his relationship with Capitol Hill”; he wants to smear his critics and bury his enemies. He likes the “partisan tension.”
Login or Register to post comments.
are you kidding Bush=partisan tension, he likes being the thorn in America's side, he likes the fact that he can steal and nobody seems to be able to call him on it, which is how he became the Don of the Texas Mafia.
Not if the "Washington crowd" he (continues to) surround himself with are the delusional neo-con types like Bill Kristol. And keep in mind that THE DICK hasn't gone anywhere except to his periodic oil changes for his pacemaker. Ain't nothin gonna change.
He's a spoiled, rich, frat boy who is used to getting his own way. That will not change.
Not surprising two of major papers in the country don't get it. They still don't understand the real nature of Bush and neo-con's at all. Which is why this country is where it is. They still think this is all just "typical" politics as usual. When in fact these guys are extreme right wing radicals and want to change this country in fundamental ways and thanks to papers like the Times of LA and NY they have done a very good job of it.
But, but, but...I thought he was a "uniter, not a divider"?
Are you telling me that Bush is a douchebag?
Say it ain't so, say it ain't so!!! :)
Judging by his demeanor yesterday when he spoke of gonzo leaving, I wouldn't think he's ready to kiss and make up with congress. He seemed pissed as hell. I imagine he's going to fight everything congress wants to get done. Now he's sulking, soon he'll start throwing fits.
When wiil the Media and the Dems ever learn this GUY is only protecting his own ass ...he doesnt care about cooperation with anyone...How much cooperation was seen befoe 'everything changed on 9/11' ...nada ...remeber secret meetings about energy?
After hearing Bush's speech about how Gonzales was dragged through the mud for political reasons, do they really think that Bush wants to make nice with Congress? I mean, fer Chrissakes hes already talking about replacing Gonzo with Chertoff....
Very nice Oped on this issue (Gonzales, Bush Could Learn a Lot From Michael Vick: Ann Woolner) http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&sid=aA5TnG7dg358&refer=home
Cheney is the Don, and he's still there. Bush is DICK's enabler. An now the NYT wants to give him a pass because his brain and his grovel boy have resigned? They are sure out-of-touch.
Point out one - just one - occasion on which Bush has willingly come to a compromise position with those on the Democratic side of the aisle. He rules with utter contempt for the notion that there could be any limits to his power whatsover; this, at the same time he trumpets the virtues of "democracy."
Fucking hypocrite who belongs in jail. January 2009 can't come soon enough.
Never a truer world was spoken. This a man who REFUSED to meet with the sister of James Byrd, the victim of the racially motivated dragging death in Jasper, Texas. She requested a meeting with Bush before he vetoed hate crimes legislation. He denied the request. It is all a game with this man. The Country and bi-partisanship be damned.
Can the foolks at LAT and NYT really be that naive? That's just so much self-righteous pablum from people with absolutely no right to be so. The corporate media is deeply complicit in the death of democracy and the GOPization of every branch of government in the United States.
The presidency is Bushie's own personal magical mystery tour. He gets a free 747 and a helicopter and free limos, bodyguards for life. He truly is king george. He gets to lie, steal, start wars. Who can stand before the beast?
Hillary Clinton's statement yesterday on the departure of Alberto Gonzales...
This resignation is long overdue, and so is the appointment of an Attorney General who will put the rule of law and our Constitution above partisan politics. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales took an oath to uphold our Constitution and respect the rule of law, but time and time again, he demonstrated that his loyalties lie with the President and his political agenda, not the American people...The Department’s hardworking lawyers, law enforcement officers, and staff are trusted to defend our Constitution, not one Administration or political party...My hope is that the President will select a new Attorney General who will...answer to the Constitution and not political operatives.
My reply submitted to Hillary Clinton's website messageboard...
We need an Attorney General who will defend and protect the Constitution, just as you said Hillary. We also need for for you, Hillary, to defend the Constitution by supporting HR333, the resolution to impeach VP Dick Cheney. As you're obviously aware Hillary, Dick Cheney has committed egregious violations of the Constitution including lying us into war in Iraq, threatening an attack on Iran, outing an undercover operative (Valerie Plame-Wilson) during a time of war and refusing to turn over documents to an investigative body. Please Hillary, defend the Constitution, as you rightly demand the next AG do. Please Hillary Clinton defend the Constitution as you took an Oath to do. Perform your Constitutionally mandated duty and sign on to HR333 and IMPEACH Dick Cheney. I know you won't let the people and the Constitution down.
My reply was DENIED and not allowed to be posted on Hillary Clinton's messageboard.
Anyone notice that Bush couldn't even remember the word, 'mud'? ("... whose good name was dragged through the ... mud.")
I don't know why LAT/NYT, or Rep. Schumer, for that matter, think they're going to see a new, sensible Bush who will 'work with them'. When has that ever been the case, and how many times do the Democrats need to get smacked in the face before they realize they're not going to get anything from this president? (I'm also skeptical about DiFi, as she's rolled over before, including on confirmation hearings. She'll talk tough, but fold when the vote comes around.)
And does anyone else think Michael Chertoff looks like Felix Dzerzhinsky?
You're right. He had a chance already but he blew it when he blamed Congress for AG's resignation.
Guys like Bush never learn. He was raised in a bubble, fed with a silver spoon, led to believe his family is arisotocracy. He cannot reason or empathize as other people can. He appears to have no ethical code except what he picked up watching old John Wayne movies. He creates little groups of ass kissers who never question him. The rest of nation are just sheep to him.
He lives in a fantasy world -- an autistic child in a man's body. How could he ever turn over a new leaf? It's not within his nature.
you give farquaad bush way to much credit.....he couldn't blow his nose with and IED!
"Texas Mafia"?? I thought it was the "Republican Mafia" because they are not just in Texas, folks.
i agree. bush has no concept of how to play well with others.
shrubby will do whatever is necessary to pander to his own narrow vision of reality.
he has has never passed up an opportunity to snatch defeat for the nation from the jaws of victory.
A turd by any other name is still a turd.
And, you can't polish a turd!
Maybe the papers are trying to give him a hint about what he should do. Nice try, but it won't work. He doesn't listen to anyone and especially not the media.
Shadowgm, I noticed that about "mud" too. He couldn't even express his own feelings freely, he had to read them. Such an idiot.
NONsequitur @ 22:
i disagree. rove's bald pate always looks pretty shiny.
FOOTER
breaking news, politique, people, médias, plateforme vidéos VF AFP dépêches Agoravox Cyberpresse France 2 La Tribune LCI Le Devoir Les Echos L’Expansion L’Express Le Figaro L’Humanité Le JDD L...
I've always been stunned by the way the media perpetuated the claim that Bush was:
"...a uniter not a divider" while governor of Texas.
I can personally attest (being in Texas myself), that's total BS. The governor of Texas actually has very little to do with the day-to-day activities of running the state. The only time George was dragged out of the closet and pushed into the spotlight was when he was trying to persuade Democrats to support some unbearable piece of Republican legislation (since they controlled everything, but not by big enough margins). If he/they didn't get their way, Tom Delay was dragged out to bash "obstructionists Democrats" that dare not let them do anything & everything that they pleased. By using his "attack dogs" to attack the other side for him, it kept his hands clean so he could go around claiming, "Hey, I TRIED to work with *them*!"
Everyone else in the other 49 states is sick of this guy. Just remember that before he was President, we had this guy for 6 years a governor. You think YOU'RE sick of him?
God I HATE the Times!!! 6+ years into a failed, disastrous, rogue, incompetent, illegal 8 year presidency and this is the tact they take? Fresh start?!?!? You mean after the illegal war? The hundreds of thousands dead, untold wounded, homeless, lives destroyed. New Orleans? HELLO!!! He LOST a fucking U.S. city! Excuse me, despite committing many crimes on their behalf, Rove, Gonzo and the rest AREN'T the problem. Bush and Cheney are the problem.
The LA Times is an abused spouse. They believe this time he'll really change.
Let's see who Bush puts up to replace Gonzo. Theodore Olson could be even worse than Gonzo.
Olson who has been mentioned as a possible replacement for Gonzales is a Republican hack He spent eight years trying to impeach Bill Clinton. He was trying to get Clinton Impeached long before anyone ever heard of Monica. Olson was the head of the Scaife funded Arkansas Project, a $2.4 million, five-year effort to dig up dirt on President Clinton.
He also lead the cover up of the EPA scandal in the 1980s. Remember Ann Gorsuch and of Rita Lavelle? Lavelle went to jail her role in that scandal. It was Ted Olson who argued executive privilege for the Reagan administration. Olson even had an independent counsel appointed to investigate his role in covering up the EPA scandal.
Theodore Olson’s Republican hackery is legionary. Patrick Leahy didn't have the clout to nail him at his confirmation for Solicitor General, but Olson shouldn't have it so easy this time.
If Bush want's to start over he should avoid nominating Olson. The media seems to have forgotten about Olson's antics. They think he's a prince.
These overprivileged blue-blood "faux Christian" old-school political hypocrites need to be held accountable to the laws of our land. Just because they help make laws doesn't mean they can ignore them. Bush = Clinton = Edwards = Guiliani = corporate shill
We need to find a completely independent non-corrupt set of people to fill these key government positions, from President to AG to members of Congress. However, history shows that when a president shows too much free thinking the powers that be have that president killed. Think Illuminati, think Bohemian Grove, think collusion with the Vatican... The men and women in charge want to destroy the US from the inside out, and George W Bush is good proof of that!
The LA Times is going downhill since they were taken over.
numfar @ 5:
I thought he was the "unificator"...
Sorry but I do not read right wing media articles anymore.
Its like listening to a broken record.
Banish the entire Bush family to Paraguay. All of them. This crime family has been damaging this country since the days of Prescott Bush. Nothing good comes from them.
As for the other crime syndicate, the Clintons, do not allow them to be placeholders for Jeb Bush after 8 years of Billory.
what part of this scenario don't these major newspapers get or for that matter media of all kinds across the nation. don't they know that after the under the table dealings and scandals of the past six years, the bush crime family is only out for power and wealth. they will stop at nothing to achieve them both. i would charge the media with complicity in helping them to achieve those goals. the ruse has worked for six years, but slowly, the american people, even our military, is beginning to wake up to the fact that the leadership is corrupt. the extent to which they will go need be looked no further than the 3,500 American dead or the literally hundreds of thousands of dead Iraqi's. this was all done on false pretenses and then was blamed on faulty intel. you can fool all of the people some of the time, you can fool some of the people all of the time but you can't fool all of the people all of the time." but good ol gw just keeps on trying. btw, where do you fall in that equation???
All Hegelians LOVE "partisan tension." It's what keeps the "right vs. left" dialectic intact, and therefore the people divided.
Gonzales was ballast: dead weight to be thrown overboard at an opportune moment in order to generate lift.
It is TOO LATE! Even if Jesus Christ himself were to somehow appear and pat bush on the back ON NATIONAL TELEVISION it would be TOO LATE! NOBODY IS LISTENING! NOBODY BELIEVES A THING HE SAYS!
I think you need to ad the last part of the NY Times Editorial: "Mr. Gonzales, for all of his undeniable deficiencies, merely reflected the principles of this administration. His resignation is a necessary but hardly sufficient step in restoring the nation’s commitment to the rule of law." They are hardly cheering that now Bush will have a fresh start--just that he shouldn't make a recess appointment.
I agree with Steve. He's going to be more pissed off because he lost his layer of protection. chimpy and darth are the root of the problems. chimpy keeps talking like he lost his left leg. They did no wrong.
chimpy wants 6 more months (and then 6 more month, the 666 bastard) of killing, more bloodletting.
BTW -- Would an innocent person resign?
RickW @ 38:
Conversely, if Hitler were to appear and pat Bush on the back on t.v., the media and the 29%ers would chalk it up to Bush having great public relations capabilities.
Larry from C @ 15:
You should have called her Senator Clinton or Mrs. Clinton. You referring to her as Hillary numerous times didn't help.
The media are always cheerleading the coke addicted cronyist. Anything to get him to still give them interviews. "turn things around"
I don't read the NYT or the LAT anymore. But I do read the Weekly Shopper. Say, you can buy a 1972 Camaro without an engine for $1200. What a bargain!
The rats are deserting the sinking ship.
C'mon. We know the resignation of Rove and Gonzales is all part of a back room deal.
The Congress got the scalps they wanted, in return the investigation into the attorney firings will go away.
There is going to be another deal on the war, some troops will be withdrawn by the end of the year, but not all, GWB will finish out his lame duck Presidency and all will be right with the world of the beltway.
Fresh start my ass. Busholini has about as much chance at a fresh start as the Titanic. And Ari Fleischer---you just keep drinking that Kool Aid, you dupe.
tHeGaMeOfLiFe @ 42:
Calling Hillary Hillary is not disrespectful. Now if I called her Hillary "The Surge is Working" Clinton, that would be disrespectful. Or Hillary "Lobbyist Money has No Influence on Me" Clinton that would be disrespectful".
What is disrespecful is Hillary not defending the Constitution, which she took an oath to uphold (just as Alberto Gonzales). And then she goes into a rant about others who do not uphold the Constitution. What a HYPOCRITE!
Is that the death knell of the LAT and NYT I hear?
He likes the “partisan tension.”
Filed Under: White House, George W. Bush
You've absolutely got that right! He loves it, creates it, uses it every chance he gets and more. The only partisan hacks out there are the GOP and especially these a$$hole neocons!
tim osman @ 34:
Screw that! put them bastards in jail!!!
He likes the “partisan tension.”
Presuming this is an accurate statement for the sake of discussion, the tenor emanating from the left and right blogospheres indicates Bush is not alone. Apparently there a lot of people who feed off of the divisiveness, because it's been going on for years and only increasing in volume, regardless of who's in the White House or which party has control of the House or Senate. We are way past the point where it matters who started it (as if that could even be determined), so the question we all need to ask ourselves is, "What am I going to do today to reduce the tension?" It's only a matter of time before the incivility and intolerance expressed rhetorically in the blogosphere starts getting carried over in tangible ways to the extreme detriment of our "real world" personal relationships.
StirFry @ 17:
Really! What more needs to be said.
All these editorials talking about this being an opportunity for Bush to "do the right thing" and salvage his legacy. What a waste of ink and trees. As if we are dealing with a rational human being with some sense of moderation.
The big question is, what is Congress going to do come confirmation time?
agree with larry c and his comments re hillary. no need for larry to apologize or explain. my only thought, damn is there not an honest and ethical politician out there.
pissed off patricia @ 6:
That stuff he's gonna start throwing is a whole lot stinkier than fits, it's called feces, and all the hip cultured chimps are throwing it.
tim osman @ 34:
Then nuke Paraguay.
If anything can prove that print is dead
Fresh chance?? Are they fucking kidding??!!! Chimpy's been in office 7 fucking years! Hate to break the bad news to the NYT and the LA Times, but after 7 years, their boy Georgie done run out of fresh chances. There's nowhere to go but down; almost 3/4 of Americans can see that. The only ones who don't get it are the trained chimpanzees in the corporate media typing pool - aka the MSM, and the 28% of the country which I seriously believe is made up of brain eating zombies.
gene214 @ 58:
Maybe he'll change in his third term in office?
no longer a proud american @ 54:
Last time I check Senators are PUBLIC SERVANTS. Why should I automatically have to be respectful to PUBLIC SERVANTS? Their respect is earned just like anyone else.
Weaseldog @ 59:
Man, if that freak were to somehow get a third term.....I moving to Australia! Hey, how hard is it to become an Australian citizen, anyway??
This is possible. Not only can Bush recover from six years of corruption, criminality and destruction of the nation, but the republican party can as well.
This is possible because the democrats have not held anyone really to account for criminal acts - therefore to many they never happened.
This is a criminal government - or is it? It is really only a criminal government IF prosecuted.
gene214 @ 58:
What the NYT and LAT also don't understand is that Chimpy's party is controlled by Sociopathic Leo Strauss nutcases. They're SEVERELY MENTALLY ILL Criminals. They can't be treated. Sociopaths are NOT CUREABLE. They must be prosecuted. Each and every one of them. Just as cancer is not gone until every last bad cell is destroyed. Until the last neo-con Straussian is run out of the country we will not be safe from them.
Bush wouldn't know what the right thing is if it bit him on the ass. To him what he says is what should be. How people could have voted for him is way beyond me.
These two may have left the White House, but they're still available to do their work as they always have been. Does anyone wonder where Don Rumsfeld went to? Is he responsible for the incursions into Iran to try to provoke more war? This is no time to breathe a sigh of relief!
"Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. Among them are [a] few other Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or business man from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid."
- President Dwight D. Eisenhower, 11/8/54
The Texas Mafia isn't leaving. Don't be naive. Karl can't run his operation without his blackberry so now that he's off the public payroll he can. None of them are leaving the game. They have big plans for all of us, you can be sure of that. What's happened now is that the rules have changed for them, relaxed. Out of sight, for toxic mold, is a good thing... for the mold.
A "fresh chance" is what America gets on January 20, 2009.
Until then, it's stale city.
Larry from C @ 66:
Still true today only there are a few more of them and they've become relatively smarter - relative to most of the people of this country that is.
PNAAC Minister @ 69:
The brightest minds in Saudi Arabia mentor them.
Damned liberal media!
Free of baggage? Bush/Cheney IS the baggage!
Give her another chance, Charlie Brown. Maybe this time Lucy won't pull the football away.
Don't wait for January 20, 2009.
As Gandhi once observed, be the change you wish to see in the world. If we pin our hopes on an election, we might as well take a deep breath and slip under the surface.
We have an administration that doesn't give a rat's arse about your Constitutional protections. They are proven to be liars, time and again. They have made substantive changes to habeas corpus and posse comitatus.
Holding our noses and hoping the stink passes isn't a valid strategy. It's the other side of the 'six more months' coin. "If we give them 16 more months, they'll be out of office ..."
Censure. Impeachment. Indictment.
(And of course, even if a Democrat should win the next election, there's still the 'fair and balanced' gang at FOX Propaganda. They're not going away.)
myiq2xu @ 68:
Perfect example of why I go to the London Guardian online and skip the US press (and cable TV) all together. I used to be a Times (New York) junkie. I bought the Times every single day and now I only buy the Times once or twice a month and only on Sunday where I go straight to the Travel and Arts sections and recycle the rest.
Ruthless People @ 75:
Oops, posted reply to wrong post.
Bush will indulge his lust for malicious spite and call that making things even better.
Shadowgm @ 74:
I like to call them FOXAGANDA.
Wow, these "analysts" get paid to write this junk?
Bush is the Don but Cheney will shoot you in the face.
Busholini deserves nothing but indictment, impeachment and incarceration!
Dr. Acula @ 81:
The law in this country applies only to the common man. BushCo will get away with their lies, treachery, deceit, war crimes and crimes against humanity without so much as a slap on the wrist.
www.msu.edu/~big/webscream.jpg
The only thing that can be concluded from this act by the administration is that they are becoming slightly uncomfortable. Every six weeks let's throw another staffer under the bus is all it is going to take to move the focus off of the damage being done by this President. If the American public is too ignorant to realize that they are endangering their children and their grandchildren by leaving this unethical group in office, then the rest of the world is correct about the assertions that we are a lazy, stupid, and especially distracted society. Your only hope at this point is to try to educate your children on what type of government they want to try next after this one fails completely.
What IS IT with these people?When is enough enough already?
Its one thing to give a man enough rope to hang HIMSELF with...
Fresh chance? hahahahahaha. It's the Republican Lucy's teeing up the football for the sucker Democrat Charlie Browns once again.
Crap like this is the reason the newspapers are failing - they've become part of the problem - some irretrievably. (they call it "losing readership" - they're failing)
I haven't purchased any paper in years - why bother? It was easy as pie to give up a local GOP sounding board like the Chicago Tribune - but I wouldn't touch either of these if they landed on my porch for free every morning.
They're crap - and I don't need their crap. When I want news I know where to find it thank you very much - and it isn't the newspapers, the TV or any of the news magazines.
*
Sociopaths don't turn over a new leaf.
Weaseldog @ 28:
mot really. they just have a reichwinger in charge over there now. It's not like they have a choice of what to believe.
that's NOT really
sitemonitor: about four of my posts disappeared. anything going on that I should know about? I was not offensive, abusive, flame-baiting or off-topic. I am absolutely certain of that! what gives? spelling errors?
Without corruption, what would George Bush breathe? What would he eat? What would he drink? Where would he derive his motivation? George Bush was incubated in an environment of total corruption, and grew up knowing nothing other than the ways of privilege and cronyism. His soul mate is Osama bin Laden, another twisted spawn of wealth and power. Together they have fucked over the whole world, as best they could. It would be ridiculous to suppose that at some point either of them would stop seeking ways to further the corruption of everything around them. It's not just what they do, it's what they are.
The only way to turn things around is for him to resign in disgrace like Nixon. At least Vietnam wasn't Tricky Dick's fault, though.
With legions of sycophants drooling over Bush's every move, daily, I wonder if he even knows what an asshole he is?????
Larry from C @ 15:
I'd like to update my post from this morning. My reply was finally posted on HillaryClinton dot com sixteen hours after I wrote it (woah what a delay!). So in the interest of fairness and accuracy I can now report that my post was not censored. My point, however, remains valid. Hillary should not criticize Alberto Gonzales for not honoring his oath to defend and protect the Constitution if she is guilty of the same violation.
BaScOmBe @ 91:
The same thing has happened to me for "inexplicable" reasons. Sometimes I do blow a gasket, and they are removed. Fair enough. But other times...
Login or Register to post comments.