Where is the NYT going with this?

November 8, 2005

I’m not one to jump to conclusions, but the New York Times sounded an awful lot like it was calling for Bush’s removal from office today.

After President Bush’s disastrous visit to Latin America, it’s unnerving to realize that his presidency still has more than three years to run. An administration with no agenda and no competence would be hard enough to live with on the domestic front. But the rest of the world simply can’t afford an American government this bad for that long.

In Argentina, Mr. Bush, who prides himself on his ability to relate to world leaders face to face, could barely summon the energy to chat with the 33 other leaders there, almost all of whom would be considered friendly to the United States under normal circumstances. He and his delegation failed to get even a minimally face-saving outcome at the collapsed trade talks and allowed a loudmouthed opportunist like the president of Venezuela to steal the show.

It’s amazing to remember that when Mr. Bush first ran for president, he bragged about his understanding of Latin America, his ability to speak Spanish and his friendship with Mexico. But he also made fun of Al Gore for believing that nation-building was a job for the United States military.

The White House is in an uproar over the future of Karl Rove, the president’s political adviser, and spinning off rumors that some top cabinet members may be asked to walk the plank. Mr. Bush could certainly afford to replace some of his top advisers. But the central problem is not Karl Rove or Treasury Secretary John Snow or even Donald Rumsfeld, the defense secretary. It is President Bush himself.

It should come as no surprise that I agree with all of this, but isn’t this an example of the nation’s leading newspaper arguing that Bush should no longer be president? That, as far as the Times is concerned, the world “simply can’t afford” him?

I’ve been reading NYT editorials for quite a while and, outside of explicit candidate endorsements, this was about as direct an affront as I’ve seen. This seemed to walk right up to the “impeach him” line.

This absolutely breathtaking. I can hardly wait to hear the fallout from this one. The wingnut commentariat will be apoplectic, and W. will feel like he just got smacked with a two-by-four. If he has the energy to notice, that is.

Snark. 🙂

  • The NYT’s editorial board has generally been doing a better job of holding the Bush administration accountable than its own reporters have. It’s almost the opposite of the WSJ, where the editorial page is run by right-wing escapees from an insane asylum, but the news department has some excellent writers.

    Imagine what would happen if the NYT actually reported the news again….

  • Poor Georgie. His heart (choke) just isn’t in it anymore. It was fun when he & his minions could do whatever they pleased and the MSM would grin as they swallowed lie after lie after lie. But now they’re asking hard, hard questions. They’re throwing his own words back in his face. His best buddies are under investigation and can no longer spend every minute of every day making sure he stays out of trouble. The 9/11 trump card isn’t working the way it used to. Shoot, even the far right nutjobs have begun to grumble.

    As Bill Maher said on his show a few months back, “Mr. President, it’s time to do what you do best: lose interest and walk away.” If only. This president’s broken. Can we exchange him for a new one? Can we get our money back?

  • You beat me to it, CB. I was looking
    all over for an appropriate topic
    to post a link to this stunning editorial.
    This one really hit hard.

    Now: will they follow through, will
    some other papers start beating
    the drums for the ouster of the
    worst president in history?

    I doubt it. Damn, if only I hadn’t
    seen this. My hope meter
    actually bounced up to a 4,
    before settling down to
    zero again.

  • I agree, Hark. I’ve been excited by that editorial since I got up this morning.

    I do still think the Shrub’s going to do with this what he’s done with everything else he’s ever screwed up (which is to say, everything): walk away from it. He is, and has always been, a very selfish person. At the moment I don’t think he gives a shit what happens to his nation or his party.

  • As much as Im with you guys on the need for a new administration, the article is in no way a call for Bush to step down. The article states that the administration is a mess, the President is largely to blame, he has the power to correct this mess, but given who he is, that is not likely to happen. Bush lives in denial, and you cannot recover from this mess without first acknowledging it, and that would take years of therapy to correct, as it is ingrained in his character to deny that everything he has ever done (perhaps with the exception of his time with the Texas Rangers) has been a failure. To expect change from this man is nearly equivalent to sitting and waiting for a chimp to evolve into an animal capable of speech. But wait, there’s no such thing as evolution anyway. Oh, I digress…Where was I? Right, the main thrust of the article is that Dick Cheney (the real power, and the real evil, as opposed to the plain ineptitude of the President) needs to be sidelined. Even the Republicans acknowledge that some housekeeping is in order, but without removing the real source or power (impossible) or reducing it drastically (probably nearly impossible) nothing will happen. Since Cheney’s still running the show, and running it with absolute defiance, don’t expect anything to happen.

  • We, meaning a majority of the electorate, got what we deserved. In early 2001, Georgie was flailing around and trying to get started when four airplanes gave him a direction. That propelled his administration for three years into the next election cycle where we all sat back, made popcorn, and watched the fight even while things were starting to fall down around his ears in Iraq. And still, we (that nebulous majority again) were either scared, bribed, or liked the pigpile on the smarty-pants enough to give him another four years. Well, it’s late 2005 and another easy tragedy or miracle hasn’t fallen out of the sky. A hard one did: Katrina. But did he come out of his vacation and take charge and pull levers and kick butt? No. Instead he hid, frightened of a grieving mother and a vocal minority of activists and kept trying to hand out bags of money to the wealthy and powerful. And the rest of the scandals are finally breaking (to quote Kevin Drum). Oh for an evil-supervillain in the Maldives to carve his initials on Mt. Rushmore and demand one beeeeeeliion dollars! Then Georgie can stand up and show them what for! It’s easy to look like a leader when someone hits you and you have a BIG bat. It’s harder to look like a leader when an hurricane devastates hundreds of miles of seacoast and affects millions of people. It’s even harder to be a leader when times are good and you want to change things like, oh, say, Social Security. Three more years of this, though? Brrrrr….

  • This is just the NYT apologizing for Judith Miller. The Times failed egregiously in ’02, ’03 & ’04 and , just like GWB, they have found a scapegoat.

  • Here’s how Bush gets himself out of this jam:

    1) Blame every mistake on Cheney

    2) Let Cheney be impeached (or resign)

    3) Appoint John McCain as VP

    4) Bring in GHW Bush as consigliere to run things while he pretends to be President

    That would bring the Republican Party back into the “credible” zone……

  • zmulls, i agree that dick cheney’s days in the vice presidency are numbered, and that number is less than the number of days between now and january, 2009.

    as for the times, it is within their power to do real journalism about the bush administration and not just criticize the man editorially, but will they? not under keller.

  • Oh that Liberal Media. Oh the trials of the poor oppressed
    conservatives!

    I subscribe to the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.
    I’m letting my Wall Street Journal subscription expire.

  • I think it’s the Times round-about way of saying that the only way for Bush to “right his listing ship” is to shake-up his staff (a.k.a. — bring in David Gergen or James Baker strategy).

  • Hey CB,

    Wonder what’s going on at the NYTimes???…I think Art K has a point…wonder if Sulzberger Jr.’s dad (the former publisher) and the other Sulzberger relations have been bitch-slapping the publisher into some awareness that the “paper of record’s” reputation is on the skids…when the NYT isn’t operating under a mantle of irrelevant gentility (the journalistic equivalent of the Queen of England) it’s held hostage by loose cannons like Judith Miller and Howell Raines…I agree with Oy that the editorial board has shown promise now that Raines is gone…now Pinch needs to get out of the newsroom and allow the professionals to do their work unhindered by his meddling…

  • Here’s my suggestion, to be dropped into Harriet Miers’ out box.

    Dear Mr President Sir,

    You’re the very bestest, smartest president we’ve ever had, and Iraq is a magnificent testament to your wonderfulness and wisdom. In fact, wouldn’t it just make those mean liberal democrats spit if you and Mr. Vice President, who’s almost as wonderful as you but not quite, went on a victory tour around Baghdad? And to show them how wise and wonderful and successful your policies have been, I suggest that you and Mr. Vice President should lead a triumphal open-car parade from the airport to downtown, and then perhaps around points east, west, south, and north somewhat.
    With great admiration,
    Harriet

    P.S. Karl says you are too much of wimp to do this. I told him, one look at those Mission Accomplished flight suit pictures and anyone can see you’re man enough for this mission.

  • N.Wells,

    Maybe we could sweeten Ms. Miers’ excellent proposal by offering to contribute an almost-real-looking dressed turkey with all the trimmin’s if he’d show us his bravery around this Thanksgiving.

  • Strange….

    I don’t normally read the Times editorial.
    For some reason I did today and kept it up on a tab all day.

    The most stunning paragraph for me was this one:

    The place to begin is with Dick Cheney, the dark force behind many of the administration’s most disastrous policies, like the Iraq invasion and the stubborn resistance to energy conservation. Right now, the vice president is devoting himself to beating back Congressional legislation that would prohibit the torture of prisoners. This is truly a remarkable set of priorities: his former chief aide was indicted, Mr. Cheney’s back is against the wall, and he’s declared war on the Geneva Conventions.

    I agree.

    In fact, I am sitting in judgment of this culture and this democracy solely on its treatment of Cheney.

    The NYT today kept the pressure on Cheney.
    Blogs are keeping the pressure on Cheney.
    This is absolutely necessary.

    Cheney must go.

    He obviously has insider info on Plame.
    He obviously has insider info on Halliburton.
    He obviously has insider into on torture.

    He is the most….
    Evil. Vice President. Ever.

    It is absolutely shameful that he still has his position.
    Absolutely shameful.

  • G2000 has it right. The NYTimes editorial board knows it’s pointless to call for impeachment, and they are very careful in their choice of wording. They are suggesting that Bush tackle the long overdue house cleaning, starting with Cheney, who cannot be fired, but can be marginalized.

  • “Vice, you’re doing a heckuva job.”

    Seriously, we should all keep up the drumbeat on “Cheney must go”. I think it will either neuter W, or make him bring in some professional help.

    I never thought I’d see the day where I thought GHWB or Jim Baker would look like a *much better* direction for the country. But there we are. Full abdication is probably a pipe dream, but it’s not totally beyond imagining that he could bring in a better team.

  • “3) Appoint John McCain as VP”

    Supposedly (and I can’t remember where I saw this rumor … TWN?) McCain was approached regarding the VP spot should Cheney have “health problems” and turned it down flat.

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