The president picked a good time to leave the country. Just as the political world was erupting in a series of White House-related scandals — Walter Reed, FBI surveillance, Libby case, and this week, the prosecutor purge — Bush was in South America. Lucky him.
The president returns to the States today and, fortunately, he’s already weighing in on the scandal du jour.
“I do have confidence in AG Al Gonzales,” Bush said during a joint news conference with President Felipe Calderon in Merida, Mexico. “I talked to him this morning, and we talked about his need to go up to Capitol Hill and make it very clear to members in both political parties why the Justice Department made the decision it made.”
He further said the decision to fire the eight attorneys was “entirely appropriate” and that the mistakes involved how the firings were explained to Congress. Past administrations have removed U.S. attorneys, and it’s their right to do so, Bush said.
“[Gonzales is] right; [tag]mistakes were made[/tag], and I’m frankly not happy about it,” [tag]Bush[/tag] said.
Now, I haven’t seen the full text of Bush’s remarks, so it’s hard to gauge just how wrong they were. But based on the CNN report, we start to get a sense of the president’s defense: he’s with the rest of us.
Politically, the idea seems to have merit. Reasonable people from both sides of the aisle can recognize that there was at least some serious wrongdoing here; a handful of administration officials have already resigned; ethics investigations are poised to begin against GOP lawmakers; and even some Bush allies in Congress are stating publicly that they no longer have confidence in the Attorney General.
Considering this landscape, Bush seems to believe the safest ground is the one the rest of us are already on — we’re upset about what’s transpired, and wouldn’t you know it, so is he.
There are, of course, a couple of problems with this tack. For one thing, Bush says he’s “not happy” about the mistakes, but he may not appreciate just how many of those mistakes were made in his own White House.
“We wish we’d been surprised to learn that the White House was deeply involved in the politically motivated firing of eight United States attorneys,” the New York Times writes this morning, “but the news had the unmistakable whiff of inevitability.” The emails showed an “orchestrated effort” by the Justice Department and the White House to purge attorneys they did not like. “I recommend that the Department of Justice and the Office of the Counsel to the President work together to seek the replacement of a limited number of U.S. Attorneys,” Sampson wrote to former White House counsel Harriet Miers in January 2006. Another email from Sampson to Miers contained a list of “USA [U.S. Attorneys] in the Process of Being Pushed Out.” Indeed, Karl Rove was deeply involved in the installment of his former assistant Tim Griffin as a replacement for Arkansas U.S. Attorney Bud Cummins. “Tim said he got a call from Bud offering this idea that Tim come on board as a special [assistant U.S. attorney] while Bud finalizes his private sector plans,” Rove deputy Scott Jennings wrote to Sampson. “That would alleviate pressure/implication that Tim forced Bud out. Any thoughts on that?” “I think it’s a great idea,” Sampson responded. In another email, Sampson wrote that “getting [Griffin] appointed was important to Harriet, Karl, etc.” Last month, the Justice Department told Schumer, “The department is not aware of Karl Rove playing any role in the decision to appoint Mr. Griffin.”
For that matter, it’s a little late in the game for the president to express concern. Indeed, Karl Rove already dismissed this scandal as a non-story, telling an audience recently that the purge was “normal and ordinary.” We know this is false, but more on point, if the firings were routine, why is Bush “not happy”?
On a related note, Bush is simply inviting more questions, which he may have trouble answering. The president acknowledged that “mistakes were made.” Alright, which mistakes? Made by whom? What will Bush do about it?
And, finally, Bush reportedly alluded to the purge as a “customary practice.” If he’s seriously going to trot out the already-debunked argument, then it’s a very clear sign that the White House can’t come up with anything real to justify what’s occurred.
Stay tuned.