Bush aides try to "stop the bleeding" from Gonzales firings before Rove, Bush himself endangered

[DeepModem Mom]

LAT: NEWS ANALYSIS
Gonzales' plight puts Bush at risk
Aides focus on keeping the controversy at Justice from spreading.
By Doyle McManus, Times Staff Writer
March 18, 2007

WASHINGTON — As more Republicans called last week on Alberto R. Gonzales to resign, President Bush's aides began to look beyond the attorney general and focus on preventing the controversy over the firing of federal prosecutors from spreading — and endangering Karl Rove, the president's top political advisor.

"This is not going to go away," warned Joseph E. DiGenova, a former U.S. attorney in the Reagan administration. "I'm sure the president is going to let it go as long as he can … but there's only so much bleeding he can take."

The fracas over the fired prosecutors reflects a larger underlying problem for Bush: His political standing as president, already battered by the war in Iraq and domestic missteps like the handling of Hurricane Katrina, has only continued to erode since his party lost control of Congress in November.

Initially, the dispute centered on the Justice Department, Gonzales and his top aides. But documents released last week suggested that Rove and former White House Counsel Harriet E. Miers were also involved in the decision to fire eight U.S. attorneys after the 2004 election. That brought the issue to the threshold of the Oval Office and prompted reporters to ask whether Bush had been involved....

***

Bush's diminished popularity, combined with his administration's disdain for Congress' view of legislative prerogatives, have given the president a slimmer margin for error — even with members of his own party.

"You've got Republicans in Congress who have run out their string with him," said Norman J. Ornstein, a congressional scholar at the largely conservative American Enterprise Institute....

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/la-na-assess18mar18,1,543110,full.story?coll=la-news-politics-national

[rodeodance]

1. oh turdy--just do so I can have my day!! (and many others)

[thoughttheater]

30. See a tongue-in-cheek visual

To see a tongue-in-cheek visual of Alberto & Karl starring in the new White House presentation of "Justice Is Served"...link here:

www.thoughttheater.com

[grasswire]

2. and they quote diGenova?????

"This is not going to go away," warned Joseph E. DiGenova, a former U.S. attorney in the Reagan administration. "I'm sure the president is going to let it go as long as he can … but there's only so much bleeding he can take."

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

3. Joe & Vickie Heavy Industries Inc.

Doing a lot of work these days. Getting a lot of gubmint contracts to create fertilizer in advance of planting season.

[napi21]

4. Yes. That quote surprised me too. I know Joe & his wife Toensing

are Pub consultants, and I'm not surprisedJoe's advise to the WH would be to drage this out as long as possible, but I'm VERY surprised that it hit the news. Most comments like that are kept wellhidden behindthe oval office door!

[DeepModem Mom]

5. Yep -- THAT gave me a jolt! nt

[IChing]

6. "run out their string with him"

Who controls this string, the white house or the congress?

[saltpoint]

7. Good question. I think it's kind of a rope-pulling contest, with

the White House hacks on one end and Waxman and Leahy on the other.

My money's on Waxman and Leahy to win.

[solara]

8. Let it Bleed

INVESTIGATE IMPEACH INDICT INCARCERATE :patriot:

[checks-n-balances]

17. Uh, he isn't the one bleeding, deGenova...it's other people's blood on his hands

The man hasn't even begun to imagine the suffering he has caused to so many thousands in this world.

[grasswire]

9. I'm inclined to write the reporter...

...and suggest that he include the information that diGenova's wife perjured herself in the Congressional inquiry into the Plame leak, when testifying. Disclosure of conflicts of interest is important. Here's another diGenova quote lower in the story:

"But other Republicans defended Rove.

'There's no suggestion of illegality in anything he has done,' DiGenova said. 'He wasn't the one making inaccurate representations on Capitol Hill. I would think that would trump any demand for testimony.'"

[Hekate]

15. I suggest you do so if he didn't mention the connection between Toensing and DiGenova!

nt

[Botany]

10. Captian Bush, we are fucked.

[Bitwit1234]

11. Toensing and Digenova what a couple

But then like calls to like and slime is all over it.

[Kber]

12. I wonder if Vicki

recommended her husband for the role of Rove apologist?

[barbtries]

13. good one

[Kber]

18. thanks!

[Klukie]

14. I for one hope it's a "slow bleed"

[bobbolink]

16. See, I really *LOVE* slow bleeding....

:rofl:

Damn, it would be fun if some smart Dems would turn this back on them.

Not justice, but still... fun.

:rofl:

[Rydz777]

19. What an absolute, unadulterated mess

and we have to live with this administration for the better part of two more years. We are a country without anything resembling an effective government, and the scandals now coming to light are probably just the tip of the iceberg. Bush has wrecked everything he has touched, and he sits there smug, oblivious to reality, and surrounded by delusional stooges. I could go on, but it is so depressing that I want think about something else.

[peacetalksforall]

20. The part of the article that stood out was about Gonzales - high-handed -

Gonzales doesn't strike me as someone who would or could do this independently of orders coming from Bush or Rove. Just as Libby and Rove could not concoct the Plame leak on their own at their level, Gonzales doesn't have sole authority to stonewall and treat Congress like crap. Demands on him to testify, supply data, answer questions would have to be discussed to determine how they jointly get out of something or impede or stall. He's not a lone strategizer or operative.

The decision for a unilateral government dictatorship did not originate with him and is not managed by him. He does not strike me as the author of the Chenely style fu policy towards Congress. In fact, the decision to PRETEND we had a working Congress for all these seven years appears to fit within the PNAC plan.

Whatever happens to him without something happening to Bush, Cheney, and Rove is scapegoating and pretense.

All of those people who performed as if they were never going to be caught is part of the arrogance serum that they were all injected with.

Makes you wonder what is going to happen to those well coifed and dressed underlings. Are they going to resurrect like all the old Iran-Contra players even going back as far as the Kennedy assassination players.

__________________from the article:
"Gonzales compounded his own vulnerability by being high-handed with Congress, Ornstein noted.

"He has treated Congress with the back of his hand," he said. "He stonewalled everything, even when he had Republican chairmen. He built no reservoir of support."

As a result, he said, "we're seeing what I call the battered Congress syndrome. After years of being slapped around by the White House, at some point there's a counter-reaction."

[libodem]

22. I caught the high-handed comment, too

and that he has dealt with congress with the back of his hand. Good analogy. Made me think of an incident with my mother not too long ago. Mom's visiting nurse was over to assess her after a hospitalization. I am also an RN. We had all three been chatting. I went to the kitchen to do a few things and when I returned to the dining room, I chimed in with a comment. My mother lifted her arm in my direct and waved me away with a flick of her wrist. I can't begin to relate the instant sting of rejection and hurt. I could go on but I will spare you all of the drama, which was silent. Congress has been dismissed as a useless appendage unless it could make a fist around a rubber-stamp. They are like abused wives. And Gonzo reminds me more of Manuel Norgia, everyday. Tyrant.

[peacetalksforall]

26. Results are tyrannical. I'm not sure that it comes from within him.

I think he must act in a tyrannical way because of the tyrants who direct him - who chose him because they knew they could direct him - that he would do their bidding. I think Ashcroft was originally given the job for reward - he played an in-your-face moralizing role condemning Clinton ... among other roles. He also lost his election to return to the Senate. So he got a loyalty job. My guess would be that Gonzales was Bush's conduit to every person running Bush and our government - Rove, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice - even when Ashcorft was there. Just the spying alone covered so many branches of government.

If Bush, Rove, and Gonzales get knocked down for the U.S. Atty firings, so be it - but, their crimes are just so much more widespread.

Bush got lucky with Gonzales, Gonzales did not get lucky with Bush.

Gonzales let the arrogance rub off on him. But, perhaps I may be too kind. We need someone with some authority to write a psyche-bio of him.

I hope things evolve for the good with your mother.

[tanyev]

29. Good point. Gonzo has been a loyal lap dog ever since Bush's Tx Gov. days.

[Webster Green]

21. I'm rather enjoying the bleeding..

Bleed on mutherfuckers!

we want our country back..NOW!

[AussieDave]

23. Hey Shrub - welcome to A-C-C-O-U-N-T-A-B-I-L-I-T-Y

Something you're about to become very acquainted with after 6 years of a rubber-stamp, blank-check Congress.

Karma is SUCH a bitch...........:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[gademocrat7]

24. I hope the bleeding continues, with no transfusions available.

[Loge23]

25. Bush gives America the finger...

...while all those around him point their fingers at anyone and everyone but him (and pigman Rove).
Virtually every disaster that has been uncovered in this administration gets the same treatment: the press secretary of the moment comes out and says: (paraphrased) "The President had nothing to do with this".
What does this guy do anyway? He had no knowledge of the Plame outing, no knowledge of internal memo's warning about 9/11, no knowledge that were no WMD's in Iraq, no knowledge of the Walter Reed scandal, no knowledge about the goings-on in the Justice Department.
What Me Worry?? Indeed.

[meldroc]

27. I highly encourage Bush to continue to be stubborn.

The longer Gonzales is Attorney General, the more this scandal festers and stinks up Rove and Bush. If he keeps Gonzo around long enough, maybe Rove will get forced out too!

[Supersedeas]

28. It was a lie to state publicly that the terminations were 'for cause' and related to performance

[Name removed]

31. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[ProudDad]

32. It's the Saturday Night Massacre

all over again.

Oh, joy, oh, glee, oh happy day!!!

[Wapsie B]

33. God that is a wonderful thought.

[susu369]

34. "I want you to be clear here: Don't go dropping it at the president's door,"

White House spokesman Tony Snow said Friday when asked about Bush's involvement.

Right......whatever you say SnowJob.

:sarcasm:

[katty]

35. TOO LATE! LET 'EM BLEED!