Scandals come and go in politics. In second terms for presidents, they
invariably happen. The last two two-term presidents had crippling scandals
knock them sideways in their final years. Reagan had Iran-contra. Clinton
had Lewinsky. They still managed to achieve things — especially Reagan. But
what’s happening now in Washington feels both superficially less riveting
and more damaging.
Think of it as a perfect storm of many, many scandals, meeting over the
increasingly warm political water of the Iraq war and becoming something
potentially more lethal. In many ways the entire future of American
conservatism is at stake.
Last week Dick Cheney’s right-hand man, “Scooter” Libby, was convicted on four
counts of lying to a jury about events related to prewar Iraq intelligence.
For many in Washington it came as a shock. Libby is well liked, has an
impeccable record, is usually scrupulous in his dealings and was close to
Cheney, the real power in the Bush administration.
He lied to conceal that he had helped to disseminate a government leak that
Joe Wilson, a critic of the administration’s case for prewar weapons of mass
destruction, was unqualified to make such a claim and had been given an
investigatory role only because his wife at the CIA had pulled some strings.
It was a hit job in a town where attacks and counter-attacks are par for the
course.
Why didn’t the vice-president or Libby just come out in public and say that
Wilson was wrong, they stood by their intelligence and Wilson’s wife was the
real reason why Wilson was sent to investigate claims that Saddam Hussein
had sought to buy uranium in Niger? Because Wilson’s wife had been a covert
CIA agent and revealing her identity might be a crime. Hence the campaign to
disseminate the information as background through various journalists.
The campaign to smear Wilson was orchestrated by Cheney and Karl Rove, “Bush’s
brain”. The first man to leak was Richard Armitage, the then deputy
secretary of state, not Libby. But Libby was a team player. If he had
confessed when asked, the news would have hit Washington before the last
election. So he perjured himself. And the perjury will now land him in jail.
The Republicans have tried to argue that this is a minor issue. But since they
impeached the last president for perjury in a civil suit, that’s a hard
argument to make. Libby’s conviction, moreover, fits into the exact pattern
the prosecutor, Patrick Fitzgerald, has used throughout his career. He
targets big figures by trapping minor figures in lies and perjury and then
squeezes them to tell more about the malfeasance of their superiors.
The question now is: will Libby cop a plea with Fitzgerald to reduce his jail
time in return for some information on who really committed the crime of
exposing a CIA agent’s identity? Most think that’s unlikely. Bush will
pardon Libby — probably as soon as he leaves office in 2009.
“There’s a cloud over the White House as to what happened,” Fitzgerald said in
his closing statement in the trial. Last week Fitzgerald declared the matter
closed. But when he was asked if he could possibly reopen the inquiry at
some point, he replied: “If information comes to light . . . we’ll, of
course, do that.”
The salience of all this is simple. It gets to the question of whether Bush
and Cheney deliberately misled the public on the reasons for going to war in
Iraq. Why was Cheney so desperate to smear a minor critic of the
intelligence? Why would he risk so much — including sending his key aide to
jail — to stop any further inquiries? It looks awfully defensive — and far
more compatible with the notion that the intelligence was fixed to fit the
war than that the war was based on good-faith intelligence.
If that weren’t enough, last week eight US attorneys testified before the
Senate judiciary committee. They were all Republican appointees and their
job is to prosecute public corruption or malfeasance if it comes to light in
their jurisdiction, regardless of who it is and what party they belong to.
All eight testified that they had been pressured to bring cases against
Democrats before last year’s elections. When they refused to do so, they
found themselves fired after the election. All had exemplary performance
records. The calls for them to go came from Republican officeholders in
Washington.
The pattern may be even more widespread. Since Bush came to power, the number
of local politicians investigated or indicted by US attorneys shows a
disturbing pattern. A new study reported last Friday in The New York Times
showed that out of 375 such cases, 10 were against independents, 67 were
against Republicans and 298 were against Democrats. Under Bush and Rove, the
whole concept of a fair justice system has taken a Nixonian turn.
Last week Alberto Gonzales, the attorney-general, agreed to relinquish all
power to appoint US attorneys. He all but surrendered a critical part of his
job, because the Senate does not trust him to enforce justice equally — his
fundamental duty. The money in Washington is that he will be forced to
resign soon.
On top of this is the treatment of injured Iraq war veterans. In the past few
weeks, stories have been pouring in of squalid conditions at the Walter Reed
veterans’ hospital — with rats, mould and insanitary conditions widespread —
and, indeed, in veterans’ hospitals across the country. Iraq is not Vietnam.
Americans are firmly behind the troops, in many cases deeply concerned about
the way they have been treated in this war. They were sent in too few
numbers, with insufficient armour and, because of medical technology, many
are now surviving with injuries that would have killed them in previous
wars.
That these men and women would return home and be treated with worse than
bog-standard medical care is a source of rage especially in red (Republican)
America, where so many service personnel come from.
The whole scandal speaks of the incompetence, negligence and callousness that
has marked the management of the war from the word go. It has echoes of
Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans — where poor people were left to fend for
themselves in the face of government incompetence. Except that these people
are soldiers, troops — heroes in many cases — trying to walk on one leg or
learn how to speak again or see again, in conditions that are a disgrace for
an advanced country.
Moreover, the image of the Republicans has also taken a turn for the worse.
The Tories didn’t realise until much too late that they had become the
“nasty party”, a party associated with callousness, corruption and
prejudice.
But last weekend, at the biggest conservative activist conference of the year,
on a podium shared by Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani, something sickening
happened. I was there. Ann Coulter, the right’s answer to Michael Moore,
gave a speech. She has written five bestsellers and after 9/11 opined that
the West should “invade their [Islamic] countries, kill their leaders and
convert them to Christianity”.
You would think this might have rendered her off limits to a Republican
convention. You’d be wrong. They love her. This is what she said last week:
“I was going to have a few comments on the other Democratic presidential
candidate John Edwards, but it turns out you have to go into rehab if you
use the word ‘faggot’, so I can’t really talk about Edwards.” The crowd
laughed and cheered.
She insisted calling someone a “faggot” has nothing to do with homosexuality.
If you want to appeal to all Americans, including anyone who thinks bigotry
is ugly, the Republicans have a funny way of going about it.
Now recall the pickle the Republicans are in with their presidential
candidates. The leader of the pack, Giuliani, is in favour of gay civil
unions, backs abortion rights, supports gun control and had a publicly
acrimonious break-up with his second wife. Giuliani’s current big lead could
be vulnerable to collapse.
A Wall Street Journal poll found: “Fully three of four Republicans — including
a majority of those backing the former New York city mayor — say they would
have reservations if they learnt Mr Giuliani supports abortion rights and
supports civil unions for gay couples.”
At the conference, Mitt Romney, the current darling of the religious right,
got his biggest applause not for attacking the Democrats but for landing a
blow on John McCain, his Republican rival for the nomination. McCain is
hated by many Republicans almost as much as Hillary Clinton and once termed
the religious right “agents of intolerance”. That gives some indication of
the mood of the average Republican.
Is this the Republican crack-up that has been predicted confidently for much
of the past 20 years? I don’t know. The thing about conservatives is that,
in general, they don’t like to commit political suicide. They are more
comfortable wielding power than some on the left. There are many Republicans
who are dismayed by the corruption in Washington, appalled by the bigotry
that seems to have taken over their party’s core, angry at the mismanagement
of the Iraq war, furious over Katrina and even more worried about the
massive debt this administration will leave the next generation. And it gets
worse.
Usually, Republicans have national security to fall back on in electoral
troubles. It rescued them after Water-gate; it has sustained Bush for more
than five years. But the war in Iraq has robbed them of this critical
electoral tool. Dinesh D’Souza, a key figure in America’s conservative
in-telligentsia, understands what makes all this so lethal.
“If the left can convert national security — usually a source of strength for
the right — into a liability, then it has vastly improved its chances for
winning future elections . . . the entire conservative agenda, from tax cuts
to school choice to restricting abortion, would be stalled,” he says.
“Moreover, the right’s political loss would be followed by a cultural assault
seeking to demonise Bush as another Nixon and conservatives as dangerous
fanatics who cannot again be trusted with power . . . the right risks losing
everything.”
Losing everything? I don’t know. But for the Republicans, for the first time,
it’s a real possibility.
Sorry but the problems all americans are now facing began when the current party introduced a rights beating policy called the patriot act. Even the name was a lie. You may think that the republicans are running the show.... but it's only answering to big business, family bush and the cia. There is little left of politics in there now, they've been allowed to create the america they want. Shame it's all taking from the people who can least afford it.
Rob Harrison, Bradford, Britain
Democrates please get over it . BUSH WON Thank God!! The (liberal) Supreme Court said so. Is the only word you all know is LIE. As far as you all are concerned everybody is a liar excepts the Democrates please give me a break and grow up and stop your whinning and come up with some answers to all the problems we are faced with -Then - you might have a presidential canidate!!!!
Nancy, West Memphis, AR
Presidential cycles run in great waves of about 36 year i.e., a generation and a half. The Republicans ruled the roost from 1896 to 1932, the Dems from 1933-68 and the Reps generally from 1969 to 2008. ("2000 and 2004 were very close run and in an honest count could have gone the other way.) It seems as if the pendulum is swinging again to the other party given the excessives of recent years and the looming social issues of health care, social security reform, Republican incompetence and corruption, the war in Iraq etc, Time for the other losers to have a crack.
oldasiahand, Guildford, UK
In your dreams..................................
Mic , Plymouth, MI
Re Bill of Philly.The three main TV co's are overwhelmingly Liberal. In pols their staff vote nearly 90% Dem. Mrs Bill Clinton is a Socialist. Antone who reads or listens to her would now this. I don't wish to be insulting Bill, but you sound like a 'progresive. Republicas will get back when Bush stops pandering to the Mexicans, and gets back to Republican principles. There are too many RINO's. Republicans in name only.
Desmond Taylor, Houston, TX
It will never be "over" for The Right. They control mainstream news media content in this country- and thus will always have the means to "manufacture dissent" against the liberal point-of-view.
Even the term "liberal" has been successfully demonized by the corporate media-- as "communist" was during the Cold War.
To prove my point: notice in the previous posts all of the disdain for Hillary Clinton (who is not even a liberal, for God's sake). This "viewpoint" of Hillary is completely concocted by the news media pundits. Ask any Hillary-hater why they dislike her and you will never get a straight answer. Their eyes will glaze over and they will always say the same thing: "I don't know. I just don't like her."
Bill, Philadelphia, US/Pennsylvania
And don't forget the name Cheney chose for the plane that carried him on his recent tour: "Spirit of Strom Thurmond."
It's amazing to me that the press has let him get away with this smirking racism. The royalists must think they will never be called to account.
Nuc Springfield, Springfield, Oregon
In reply to Stan from Texas, it is customary for presidents to hire US attorneys of their choosing upon taking office, or upon starting a new term after reelection.
It is less usual, however, for US attorneys to be fired mid-way through a term of office and accused of incompetence because they refused to bend to party political expediency, as happened in New Mexico.
In that state, a US attorney was called by a Republican senator and asked whether a case to indict Democrats would be brought forward before last year's midterms. The attorney replied in the negative, the senator in turn expressed his disappointment and has since been fired.
Alex, London,
Stan from Texas said "The free world cannot afford the likes of Hillary as President, no one who craves power like she does should be allowed anywhere near it". What about George W. Bush and his manipulation of last federal election, the treatment of African Americans in Florida during the elections and the lies he has used to manipulate the American public with the war on terror. I've never seen a man more hungry for power or prepared to do dirty tricks than Bush and his cohorts, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Rove, LIBBY!!, etc.
I couldn't care less about republicans or democrats, and I recognise that Clinton was just as bad as some of those mentioned, but in terms of power hungry, Bush is in a league all of his own.
Paul, London,
Regarding the US Attorneys' firing, I would remind you that Clinton lost no time in firing ALL of them upon taking office as he wanted his own people in those slots and we were assured by the media that it was OK for him to do so.
So why the fuss now over a few ?
The free world cannot afford the likes of Hillary as President, no one who craves power like she does should be allowed anywhere near it.
Stan, Texas, USA
There is no American "Right" there is just America and that is what is Frightening.
Steven Hickok, Las Vegas nv, usa
As the old bard would say, "The game is still afoot."
No matter which part of the political field spectrum - the true test is the passing of the "Greatest Generation" and the "Baby Boom" and the emergence of "Generation X" - from the local to the national scene. If people are surprised at Barack Obama or Mitt Rommey - then get ready boys, its going to be a bumpy ride!
No scared cow, no political plank, no backroom canon is going to be safe from now on - for the generation that witnessed all the troubles of 70's, 80's, and 90's are about to make policy. Even money that the "elders" of all the political parties - Democrats, Republicans, Tories, and Labor - are going to have a stroke or two.
Matthew A. Sawtell, Chicago, IL, U.S.A.
Talk about coming late to the party, Andrew!
The sins of the Bush administration have been in plain view for years. It is only now that the mainstream media and the Democratic party have found the courage to speak up about it.
Too late to jump on the bandwagon - the parade's already over.
Rod, London,
The game is certainly not over. It is half time and taking a break.
Neil Whittington, Woodridge, IL, US, IL
I dont agree to this paragraph at all -
"The campaign to smear Wilson was orchestrated by Cheney and Karl Rove, “Bush’s brain”. The first man to leak was Richard Armitage, the then deputy secretary of state, not Libby. But Libby was a team player. If he had confessed when asked, the news would have hit Washington before the last election. So he perjured himself. And the perjury will now land him in jail. "
There is no evidence that Karl Rove of Dick Cheney had anything to do with this. The case against Libby fell apart and Fitzgerald was under extreme pressure to bring a result from this overhyped public funded investigation so he decided to pin Libby for anything he could, and he did, for lying under oath, even though it has nothing to do with any effort to oust Plaim as a CIA operative. It is far from certain that he will receive a jail sentence for this.
Please stick to reporting facts, not left-wing conspiracy theories
Matt, Sydney, Australia
This administration has done more to harm the US internally and thoughout the world than I could have possibly imagined.
The only bright spot, and I mean ONLY, is that perhaps neoconservatives and their hatred of all the principles that the US is supposed to stand for have been fully discredited for at least a few generations. I'm just sorry the poor people of Iraq are having to pay the highest price. As an American this is my deepest shame--that my country has contributed to so much death and destruction.
We are all just waiting for Bush/Cheney to be gone. It should have happened in 2004. Unfortunately they should never have been elected in 2000, but for many reasons, people here just didn't make a good choice. Ralph Nader contributed, the US media contributed, and people were complacent after the Clinton years. I think many people thought all politicians were alike and it didn't matter which one they choose. I think, I HOPE that we now ALL know better.
Joy Jacques, Cannon Falls, MN USA
So long as the Democrats' candidate in 2008 is NOT Hillary Clinton, they win. And not only do they win, but they inherit the opportunity to turn American policies strongly in the direction of social democracy--to insure that that "America" which John, in Miami, is talking about truly does "die"--as it very much MUST, if the world is to be preserved from the hegemony and market-driven Armageddon that the American theo- and neocons have been preparing for it for some time. And John in Miami can forget about his libertarian form of "conservatism." Bush and his clique have put a stake through its heart. The only thing that matters now is that the monstrous behemoth of big government be put in the hands of people who genuinely like the soiled, earth-coloured "common man," as compared with the fastidious horror of them of the squeaky-clean, puritanical, superficially educated "elites" of the neo-capitalist, neo-Protestant Anglo-Saxon societies.
digbydolben, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
Its a big mistake to think that the Republican establishment is the same as the grass roots conservative movement in the US. They are completely different - John McCain and George Bush are establishment figures with little, if any support from conservatives. McCain will never win his party' s nomination for President for that reason. Rudy Guiliani is not from the Republican establishment but he does have increasing support from conservatives, he will likely win the Republican nomination and beat the Democratic candidate as well.
Christopher Holland, Canberra, Australia
McCain has tied himself too tightly to "victory" in Iraq for him to be elected. There is no victory to be had, there are only choices between bad and horrendous. McCain's ideas lead to horrendous losses, so he won't win. Too many Americans are too strongly opposed to what he wants to do.
John, Lynn, MA
What the current Republican party embodies, to the gleeful satisfaction of it's many incomprehensible supporters, is a growing type of 'Americanism' that revels in it's hatreds and it's desired responses. Of course, when it achieves it's wishes there may not be much left of the world or even America, to fulminate against.
Paul McCloskey, London, UK
The firing of eight U.S.attorneys is designed to intimidate the rest of them. Somewhere in the country there are cases that the administration feels it must win. U.S. attorney is a job for lawyers with political ambition. A "fired U.S atorney" is dead as a political candidate. That is a big club held by the A.G.
c. perry, Boynton Beach, U.S.A. Florida
The answer is no, but It's getting bad for the Republicans with both the war in Iraq and the scandals. If this continues, they can forget the 2008 elections, never mind the White House. Even their commentators aren't clean what with Rush Limbaugh's drug issues and Ann Couter's foot-in-mouth comments.
They may be able to redeem themseleves, but it would require an endorsement to the president and vice presidents' impeachment and that won't happen.
Gerald F. Shields, Seattle, Wa
Few things are more important in the present world than the disintegration and undoing of the dominant American elite. There is a rot in the heart of the US that threatens not only the well-being of Americans and their democratic traditions but also the rest of the world. Let us hope that the American people are wise enough to achieve the most thorough purge of this profoundly dangerous, corrupt and indeed evil regime.
henry laycock, kingston, canada
Interesting that POLITICO has a story about Fred Thompson juxtapositioned with storys about the importance of chracter (to the voters) and the imperiled stateof the conservative movement. Is this a sign that we're looking for a big leader? (He's 6'5")
Tom Beebe, St Louis, MO
All you Liberals can stop crowing. When this goes to appeal it will be overturned. This was a witch hunt by a lawyer who wants to be Governer. Here is the crux of the matter. When,and on what day did you meet your wife, and what did you do? Hesitate, or give the wrong answer and you go to jail like Libby. As they say, how do you like those apples? We Republicans may be dim, but we are not as daft as the Socialist party.
Desmond Taylor, Houston, USA Texas
WHIGS, DIXICRATS & the GOP - I
The hate-oriented Know-Nothing party (early 1850s) drew voters from both major parties, the Whigs and the Democrats, but more from the former, at same time southern Whigs were becoming Democrats due to antislavery growth, thus fatally weakening the Whigs as a national party. The GOP coalesced from younger Whigs and anti-slavery Democrats around a pro-capital attitude (Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men). The pro-hate party, conservative only in its nativisim (America for White Male Amercans), evaporated organizationally as fast as it appeared. Local issues had powered Know-Nothing successes rather than a coherent philosophy; many local establishment figures were against it or rode it uncomfortably to local electorally success. With a group pushing memes that better fit their local outook, the GOP reached major status quickly in 1856 supported local leaders who wanted a somewhat activist (on econ issues) government.
Robert M, Concord, MA, USA
WHIGS, DIXICRATS & the GOP 2:
The Whig collapse is NOT directly parallel to the GOP's current crisis. Personal choice on abortion is NOT the political equivalent of institutionalized and expanding slavery. Today's GOP has at its "core" the cultural white Southerners (1948 Dixicrats) centered on the old Confederate states who think they embrace semi-libertarian outlook but in reality support an authoritarian attitude: VMI is the FOURTH major military academy in the US and the only one not organized on a national basis. The libertarian cake-icing appeals to Westerners. Once New Deal policies were ascendant within the Dems courting a national audience, the loss of white Southern Elites and Locals was almost inevitable. The Civil Rights Acts were the Dixicrats excuse to leave; the Nixonian Southern strategy immediately bore electoral fruit. So, can this GOP succeed nationally based on highly regional and exclusionary values succees?--without a positive Reagan-like figure as its candidate?
Robert M, Concord, MA, USA
My week of fun and Turmoil within the Law Courts of Norwich and a Fantastic team of Cameramen, Journalists, Reporters, and Photographers who certainly gave Local Councils and the hiararchy 'food for thought' & 'cold feet' it seems, helping me immensely to contiue our fight against an unfair ill-founded - illgotten Council Tax - Not over by anyones imagination yet, however, my main reason for this is to show my appreciation for the Power of the Media, (National Papers) for this we are truly grateful and hope you will be there if needed again.
I must say I do understand your BIG story on my behalf did not break this time, (my Imprisonment) but rest assured
if there is a way of uncovering the culprit or the way payment was made I am sure someone will help along the way._------The Campaign Continues.
Barbara Lockwood, Norwich, Norfolk
The Republicans are reaping what they have sown. The falacy is to say that this means that the liberals are the right choice. The problem is that the Republicans claim to be conservatives, but are not. A change is most certainly needed. But if conservatism dies and liberalism achieves its ultimate goals, our country as we know it , dies as well. It may well be that what is needed is a new party to replace the Republicans, as they replaced the Whigs in the 1800s. If some conservative leader in the style of Reagan does not appear, we may be more in danger of civil war that Iraq.
John, Miami, FL, USA
In politics change is good; it prevents leaders from becoming too powerful. The Democrats have the potential to take over in 2008, they have the momentum and ideologically they are ahead ......but as yet they have failed to put forward a candidate who could win the election. Clinton and Obama will do do it........Clinton is deja-vu and Obama has no experience. This leaves open the door wide open for McCain who has a proven appeal, even to Democrats. If McCain can successfully distance himself from Bush he becomes a real contender.
G. Moores, Abu Dhabi,
It will take quite a number of years for the American electorate to get over the Bush Administration, thus the Republican Party can look forward to the sustained period as minority party it so richly deserves.
Robert Dare, Clinton, Missouri USA
Good. Let them fall. They dug their own graves.
Matthew, Spirit Lake, IA