The Bush White House; Where Screwing Up is Just Part of the Job

(via Reuters):

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush offered strong endorsements on Wednesday to two architects of the Iraq war, Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney, and said he was as close as ever to top political adviser Karl Rove despite his role in the CIA leak case.

Rebuffing Democratic calls for a shake-up over Iraq war strategy and speculation about rifts within the White House, Bush said he had no intention of removing Rumsfeld as defense secretary, crediting him with doing a "heck of a job." Rumsfeld and the vice president, Cheney, have been frequently accused by critics of pushing the war on false pretenses.

In an interview with Fox News, Bush said his relationship with Cheney had "only gotten better," and he remained "very close" to Rove, who could face charges in the criminal investigation into the leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity.

"We're still as close as we've ever been," Bush said of Rove, brushing aside reports he was angry at his deputy chief of staff, who initially denied any role in the Plame leak. "We've been through a lot. You know, when we look back at the presidency and my time in politics, no question that Karl had a lot to do with me getting here, and I value his friendship."

Bush also said he hoped indicted Texas Republican Rep. Tom DeLay would regain his post as House of Representatives majority leader. But Bush added, "I don't know whether I can expect that."

It's not all that amazing, really. Bush has never been held accountable for any of the fuck ups he's done in his life, or even the out-and-out nasty, mean stuff. Why would he hold any of his people responsible for the crap they've done?

In the cases of Delay and Rove, laws may have been broken. It seems reasonable to expect a statement like "If they did these things, I will see that they are punished for them," but not our man Bush. There is absolutely no reason to believe he will hold anyone to task in his circle, no matter what they've done.

In his life, that's the way it works! It's called doing a "heck of a job." It's amazing that he is still using that phase, given the history of who he's applied those words to---starting with Brownie . . . .