It's All About Context - Why Bush's Attorney Scandal Standoff is Doomed to Political Failure

A. Alexander, March 22nd, 2007

Nearly everything in life is about context. So let's put into context Mister Bush's latest heel-digging-in, "know ya'are but whattam'I" pitch-o-fit with the Democrats and see why it is doomed to political failure.

The President and his Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales, lied to Congress and the American people as to why several federal prosecutors were fired. The administration claimed the attorneys were released for doing a poor job, but White House communication records revealed that Mister Bush and his people fired the attorney's for failing to be sufficiently 'loyal Bushies'. They just weren't willing enough to create fake charges and hang them on Democrats. And, contrary to FOX News' insistence, the administration's manipulation of America's justice system does matter. Honestly, what could possibly be more important than the rule of law?

Even most Congressional Republicans acknowledge that George W. Bush's administration, including the Attorney General, supposedly the nation's top law enforcement official, lied to Congress and the American people. The reality and the facts are indisputable. And therein lies the rub - oh, and the context.

Despite the President and Attorney General's truth deficiencies, Mister Bush tried to swindle a sweet deal for Karl Rove, i.e. to have him testify off-the-record and in private. Of course, having been told lie after lie Democrats smelled a rat...an attempt by the White House to avoid having to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Mister Bush and the 'loyal Bushies' are trying to justify their stance by pretending to have -- by dumping 3,000 pages of information -- cooperated with Congress in an unprecedented way. The reality, however, is that there is a gap in the documents that the White House released. Mister Bush would like Congress and the American people to believe that, regarding his plan to fire the attorneys, all communication came to an abrupt halt in mid-November and that nobody in the administration said or wrote another word regarding the issue until early December. The near month-long gap in e-mails aside, reports have suggested that the White House redacted (blacked out) 100 pages of the released documents.

What are they so desperately trying to hide?

Again, the administration is trying to game the system. They are telling yet another lie by omitting nearly a month's worth of important communication, while telling the American people that they've given Congress 'unprecedented' cooperation.

The craziest part about the entire scenario is that the administration is playing this game in hopes of claiming Democrats aren't interested in the facts, only partisan politics. This is the land of political make believe and pretend that the nearly irrelevant Mister Bush now finds himself. He and the 'loyal Bushies' actually believe they can repeatedly and publicly lie to Congress and the American people; then attempt to game the system with their "extremely generous offer" that conspicuously omits nearly a month of important communication; refuse to allow Rove and others to testify publicly and under oath; and then claim the Democrats are simply playing political games and not interested in the truth. This is the context in which this political scandal is playing out.

Incredibly, the President and his band of 'loyal Bushies' are hoping against hope that the American people won't remember the content or the context of this particular scandal. The biggest problem facing Mister Bush's scheme is that the American people probably trust Charles Manson more than they trust him and that is the political context in which he now lives.