Bush Scandals: It's the Politics, Stupid

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By Bernard Weiner, The Crisis Papers (about the author) Page 1 of 3 page(s)

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By Bernard Weiner, The Crisis Papers

OVERTURE: Now we've lost both Steve Gilliard and Molly Ivins -- two vital, feisty, great-writer journalist/blogger voices speaking truth to power. And Cindy Sheehan's voice will be more muted now, as she recovers from her immensely draining anti-war battles. All three were essential to the building of our current Movement. The progressive community holds them dearly to our collective heart -- and Cindy will return re-energized, we hope.

ACT 1: SURVIVAL OF THE UNFITTEST

When trying to figure out the motives of the Bush Administration on nearly any issue you can think of, the first place to look should always be Karl Rove's "politics" workshop. By "politics," I mainly mean how an action affects the survival of the CheneyBush Administration, and only incidentally with how it affects the Republican Party.

This solipsistic concern for their own political/economic welfare is as true today with regard to the various impeachable scandals -- lying to Congress to foment wars, the outing of a covert CIA agent, the domestic spying program, U.S. Attorney firings, etc. -- as it was in the first years of the CheneyBush Administration.

We were told in those early years, by a White House insider, of the predominance of Rove's political operation in deciding which policies the Administration would advocate and support. Whoops! Strike that word "predominance," since there was virtually no policy-making apparatus in the White House; politics was effectively the ONLY thing in play.

"KIDS ON BIG WHEELS"

That insider was John DiIulio, who was the first chief of Bush's faith-based-funding operation -- another politics-based scheme, this one designed to pay off the fundamentalist base with grants of public funds to religious groups. DiIulio in 2002 put his finger right on the button of why the CheneyBush Administration has been such a train-wreck. Here's his money-quote in Ron Suskind's January 2003 article in Esquire: ( http://www.ronsuskind.com/newsite/articles/archives/000032.html )

>> "There is no precedent in any modern White House for what is going on in this one: a complete lack of a policy apparatus. What you've got is everything -- and I mean everything -- being run by the political arm. It's the reign of the Mayberry Machiavellis. ... When policy analysis is just backfill, to back up a political maneuver, you'll get a lot of ooops."

Suskind writes: "An unamed 'current senior White House official' [said] pretty much the same thing: 'Many of us feel it's our duty -- our obligation as Americans -- to get the word out that, certainly in domestic policy, there has been almost no meaningful consideration of any real issues. It's just kids on Big Wheels, who talk politics and know nothing. It's depressing. DPC (Domestic Policy Council) meetings are a farce'."

IRAQ IN 'O6, IRAQ in '08

It must be obvious to everyone by now that the CheneyBush Administration has no intention of getting out of Iraq, and recent events have served as confirmation. Bush and his Press Secretary Tony Snow blathered on the other day about the U.S. staying on in Iraq as it has in South Korea for 54 years. ( click here ) Defense Secretary Gates confirmed that policy a few days ago that America might well stay in its hardened military bases in Iraq for many decades. (http://thinkprogress.org/2007/06/01/korea-model )

Plus, the U.S. is constructing the world's largest embassy, which CheneyBushRove envision will be the locus for U.S. political and military adventures in the greater Middle East for decades to come. Bush is quoted in a Dallas newspaper ( click here ) telling Texas friends that he is setting up Iraq so his successor can not get out of "our country's destiny."

But the prospect of the U.S. troops being bled to death by a thousand "insurgent" cuts over that time frame is not something the American citizenry might look on with favor, so there's always a countervailing political spin going on to create confusion and try to take the sting out. And, surprise!, that spin gets spun as a new election cycle in America comes into play.

IRAQ WITHDRAWAL-TALK THEN

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Bernard Weiner, Ph.D. in government & international relations, has taught at universities in California and Washington, worked for two decades as a writer-editor at the San Francisco Chronicle, and currently serves as co-editor of The Crisis Papers (more...)

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