Friday, October 21, 2005

Grasping at Straws

Charles Krauthammer, whom I respect even though we frequently diagree, has gone over the edge. Seeing a train wreck coming on the Miers nomination, he allows himself to venture into pure fantasy in looking for a way out. The idea is that: (a) the Senate will not confirm without access to documents Miers had a hand in preparing which she worked in the Bush White House and (b) that Bush cannot give these doucments up without forever jeopardizing the right of president to get advice free of the risk that it will be disclosed. From this scenario, Kauthammer imagines the following "happy ending":
Miers withdraws out of respect for both the Senate and the executive's prerogatives, the Senate expresses appreciation for this gracious acknowledgment of its needs and responsibilities, and the White House accepts her decision with the deepest regret and with gratitude for Miers's putting preservation of executive prerogative above personal ambition.
Lame. And desperate. And totally bogus.

I have no idea what will happen with Miers. But I think we can all be pretty confident that the Senate will not (ever)"express appreciation for [a nominee's] gracious acknowledgment of its needs and responsibilities."

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Bill, if they knew what was good for them the Bush Administration would bring you into the White House as Communications Director (so long, of course, as you could help shape the policy in addition to the message). Since this bunch won't have the good sense to do that, however, the next best thing would be for the NY Times to begin printing your columns on its Op-Ed page.

You're right on target here. We're in this situation up to our necks, but the easy way out would be disastrous in the long term. It's time to suck it up, face the consequences of a series of very poor decisions, and tell the nation straight up that we must escalate our presence in Iraq and plan to stay there for a decade or two. Similar to your concern over Billy Bob, I'm depressed to think that my 14 year old son is likely to be compelled to patrol the streets of some miserable Iraqi town, wondering if the IED is just around the next corner.

Rob