Catching Up

by Steve

Sorry for the lack of posts today. We had a day off out here in Ahnold’s place, and it gave me the chance to take care of domestic projects. Having said that, take a look at some of the challenges Mr. Bush and his party face this week, aside from Rove’s next appearance before the Plame grand jury, which I believe is set for Wednesday.

First, both the Post and the Los Angeles Times tell us today that the GOP’s prospects next year aren’t great, in large part because the White House and the party can’t find willing candidates to run in George W. Bush’s GOP.

Second, Bush finds himself on the wrong side of a defense authorization bill that he is threatening to veto. After seeing Rummy do nothing to deal effectively with the detainee abuse scandal of his own making, the Senate tacked detainee treatment rules onto the authorization bill. The bill was passed by a 90-9 margin, with only nine pathetic GOP senators opposing the rules. The detainee abuse provisions set up a collision course between Bush and the provision’s author John McCain.

Arlen Specter over the weekend said that if the rumors he is hearing are true that James Dobson has been told secretly by Karl Rove and others that Harriet Miers will be a safe vote on the court, then Specter may subpoena Dobson to testify at Miers’ confirmation hearings.

And as for who is responsible for the Miers misfire, Time magazine reported yesterday that Rove wasn’t involved in making the pick. Rather, Andy Card played to Bush’ desire for cronyism and secrecy and sold Bush on the Miers pick.

Read Catholic University professor John Kenneth White’s summary of why Bush will continue to have problems. In short, White says that with Iraq, high gas prices, a less-than-stellar economy, and ballooning deficits not changing for the better, Bush is crippled because he can’t change the subject. And with the Miers pick, he lost an opportunity to rally the base, and managed to disillusion them instead.

As for Iraq, it was reported tonight that the National Guard and reservists are suffering an increasing amount of the combat deaths, especially in 2005. Early in the war, the Guard and reserves were suffering between 10-20% of the overall fatalities in the war. But in 2005, those figures have shot to 36%, and in the last two months, it has hit 56%. And these weekend warriors are dying after our installed interim government under Allawi stole over a billion dollars in aid and then disappeared.

Lastly, as we head further into what may be a critical two weeks for the Bush Administration, remember that Bush has relied on a troika of people to get him this far, much like Reagan did. Reagan had James Baker, Ed Meese, and Mike Deaver watching his back side. Bush is left with Karl Rove, Karen Hughes, and Andy Card. Guess which team is better? Also note that Rove and Card, according to Newsweek’s Howard Fineman, are battling it out in front of the White House staff, and Hughes has just returned from a disastrous trip overseas. Hughes and Rove have never been close, so it is quite likely that Card and Hughes are only too happy to see Rove’s troubles right now. Add to that the likelihood that none other than Colin Powell and George Tenet have been feeding background material to Fitzgerald, and you get a toxic situation for George W. Bush in the coming weeks. You know the worm has turned when Chris Matthews of all people is taking an objective look at Plamegate.