Novak: GOP base to Bush: "Let Gonzales go, and pardon Libby"

[sabra]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/10/AR2007061000979.html

Standing by the Wrong Guy

By Robert D. Novak
Monday, June 11, 2007; Page A17

Just when it seemed George W. Bush's sinking prestige with his Republican base had bottomed out, his stock hit new lows. The president's seeming indifference to the sentencing of Scooter Libby was bad enough. But it coincided with Bush's apparent determination to retain his friend Alberto Gonzales as attorney general against congressional pressure to depose him.

Prevailing opinion among Republican office holders, contributors and activists could not differ more from Bush's posture. They regard Libby as a valuable public servant who faces serious prison time thanks to prosecutorial abuse made possible by Bush administration decisions. They see Gonzales as an embarrassment to the party who presides over a hollow Justice Department while presidential staffers search for Senate votes to block a no-confidence motion.

...

In contrast, Republican insiders are enraged by Bush's retention of Gonzales, whom they consider a political and governmental disaster. Beyond his affection for Gonzales, the president is reported to fear that a new attorney general could not be confirmed without pledging to name a special prosecutor to investigate the firing of U.S. attorneys. That explanation suggests a lame-duck regime, preferring to stay with a crippled, leaderless Justice Department.

Republican insiders who complain about Bush filling mid-level government vacancies with "children" cite a classic case. In September 2005, the president named Julie L. Myers, then 36, to head the Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement bureau. She has never been confirmed, amid bipartisan agreement that she lacks the five years of management experience required by statute.

...

What can a lame-duck president fighting an unpopular war -- the fate also of Harry Truman and Lyndon B. Johnson -- do about this? Not much, but two possibilities are talked about in Republican circles: Let Gonzales go, and pardon Libby. That might push Bush's approval ratings even lower, but it sure would hearten his base.

:rofl:

[rocktivity]

1. Well, duh.

:boring:
rocknation

[havocmom]

2. Novak has his own reasons for promoting the idea of pardons

:evilgrin:

[Blackhatjack]

3. IMHO Bush 'lost' the support of the GOP Base many months ago...

The GOP plan is to get through the summer without saying anything about Bush, announce the 'surge' is not working after briefing from Patraeus, then begin distancing themselves and repudiating Bush policies outright as we move into the primary season and last year of office for Bush.

Nothing Bush could do at this point that will rally the GOP rank and file to his side.

[bryant69]

4. I just wrote on that article at the website

What I found striking about it is how Novak largely lifts the Immigration issue out of the debate. I think that Bush's problem stem from, in part, the fact that the base is super pissed at him for being such a putz on immigration.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[blogslut]

5. ooooh

LOL. Do it, George. Do what Bob says.

[Marr]

6. I would *love* to see Bush pardon Libby now, in the wake of the Paris Hilton drama.

He'd be lumped in Paris Hilton in the national psyche. No longer a president or a politician, but a spoiled brat who insists the law does not apply to him.

Unfortunately, I expect him to pardon Libby on his way out the door.

[madokie]

7. at this point in time I see gonZaLAss being blackmailed by the cheney camp

theres no way they could get a sympathetic nominee through the senate today

[rasputin1952]

8. Novak should have been charged w/treason...If it weren't for

his diddling w/names of CIA Agents, none of this would have happened.

Treason is punishable by a maximum of death...now I am not in favor of the DP, but it would not hurt me one iota to see Novak standing on the gallows, crying and begging for his life, (something he never did for those convicted of crimes where the DP is the ultimate payment).

I'd let him off w/life in prison, w/o parole, but not before I saw that little tap dance on the gallows he would perform. The little sniveling bastard is a shell of human being, and deserves to feel some fear in his life...he enjoys tossing it to everyone else, he should be the recipient of some...:)