This. This. This. Bush

Remember Karen Hughes? In addition to her political duties for the President, she also gave life to a rhetorical tic that thrives in the Bush Administration into its second term. It all began with transition verbiage:

"This President honors the values of his office."

And it has continued. This President. This White House. This Administration.

The implication wasn't subtle. What came before - the Clintons, the President's all-too-soft father - was an aberration. We're in charge. We do things right. We wear ties in the Oval. We're better, with a call to a higher morality, a greater calling ordained by the lord.

And so when Karl Rove slandered terror-tested New Yorkers before the tiny and dying state conservative party a couple of weeks ago, it wasn't surprising to see that Hughes tic show up: " ... this President and today's conservative movement are shaping history, not trying to stop it."

That, of course, was the infamous speech that began Rove's career-ending slide into ignominy and ridicule. It didn't have anything to do, per se, with his despicable and un-American outing of an undercover CIA agent - admitted by his lawyer this week - but the speech did reveal the true measure of the man....and of this Administration. A snippet is needed, though widely distributed already:

Conservatives saw the savagery of 9/11 and the attacks and prepared for war; liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers. In the wake of 9/11, conservatives believed it was time to unleash the might and power of the United States military against the Taliban; in the wake of 9/11, liberals believed it was time to… submit a petition.

Those words were the prism that finally put Rove's evil outing of Valerie Plame into just the right light; they served as the big magnifying lens that turned the sun's warm rays into a hot laser beam that has the pile of White House leaves a'smolderin' tonight.

President Bush vowed to fire the Plame leaker. Rove's lawyer, prompted by emails released by a Time reporter under threat of being jailed by the special prosecutor, has admitted to his client's culpability - clinging as he is with cracked, aching fingernails to the legal distinction of whether Rove "knowingly" revealed Plame's identity to syndicated scum-scraper Robert Novak. Republican Senators are getting slippery nervous. GOP talking points defending Rove appear weak. Scott McLellan is tripping over his own tonsils. Even the Freepers are freaked.

Surely, a traitorous political hack job during a time of war, an attack against a covert operative in harm's way, will not be tolerated in this White House, by this Administration.

Surely, as Karen Hughes always suggested, this President will be true to his word.

Comments

[Tony Alva]

"Surely, as Karen Hughes always suggested, this President will be true to his word."

My money says he'll cut'em loose. Then what?

[Mike]

The office of the president has been a joke for a long, long time. Carter was right -- no one man can handle it, and its complications have grown exponentially since the late '70's. This exposes company stooges like Bush. A certain sector of our population has craved a monarch for that office ever since Washington. They're the ones preening over the appearance of a 'strong leader', exuding that strong smell of entitlement. Turn your back to them at your own peril.

[EasyLiving]

LOL. Career ending? Oh boy. Just keep believing and spreading what you take to be knowledge; Rove couldn't wish for anything more apt to keep Republicans in power for not just one generation, but many. Thanks friend. In spite of your best efforts, America will remain great with no equal.

John L. Klepper

[Tom K]

Yeah, Tom, I'm with Yogi. Why do you hate America?

[brendan]

I love this entire amusing spectacle more than I can say, but it really makes me feel bad for so many people.
I feel bad for the other covert CIA agents working at Valerie Plame's company Brewster & Jennings, whose careers were finished collaterally.
I feel bad for the "clients" who did business with Brewster & Jennings, and by extension the CIA. Those people are probably in the short line for a bullet behind the ear in their respective countries.
I feel bad for the deep cover CIA agents elsewhere in the field who will have a much harder time establishing relationships with potential informers because the government they work for can't be trusted to keep its secrets.
I feel bad for Karl Rove because the thing he loves most will be harder for him to attain. The joy he gets from ruining careers and smearing honest people will be harder from prison. Although I'm sure his mad political skillz with have him advising the felon who runs his cell block in short order.
I feel bad for Scott McClellan, he has no experience being challenged for his half-truths and misleading statement, he's way out of his element and totally squirming up there.
I feel bad for the president. Instead of a spaceship carrying he and his administration away to the rapture, it looks like that's gonna have to wait until the investigation and subsequent trial are over.
But mostly I feel bad for fascism. It doesn't do well when the light of public scrutiny is shone upon it, and it looks like that might actually be starting to happen.
O well.

[Ralph]

Any Republican who defends Rove and this administration is defending a treasonous act. How can they claim the moral high-ground after this? If this had occurred in the Clinton years Republicans would be screaming "treason" on every radio and cable station in America. I, for one, would be just as pissed off, if not more so, if the Clinton White House had leaked the identity of a covert operative for petty political payback. Where is the shame? Most Republicans seem to only care about holding on to power. Where are the moderates in the party? Where is the sanity? This is a turning point - whether Karl Rove survives or not.

[Al Hill]

to this president and his staff words like truth and honor are only words to be used to get what they want