Rove and Gonzales Depart

Now that the "architect" Karl Rove and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales have resigned, the President's merry band of hand-picked toadies is dwindling. Hopefully their replacements will bring a measure of maturity and perspective to the administration in its final months.  I'm not betting on it, but anything is possible.

As Scott notes, it is deeply strange that Gonzales lied to his own spokesman about his impending resignation less than 24 hours before it happened.  Or, at least, it would be strange for most administrations, Republican or Democratic.  For the Bush Administration, petty and pointless lies are an essential part of standard operating procedure. This administration is not conservative in a meaningful sense, because it has no interest in conserving the best of American tradition. 

When the historians look back on the Bush II years, they will have to ask, "Why? How could the American people re-elect such an obviously incompetent person?" For help with this question, they would profit by reading John B. Judis's examination of how President Bush masterfully exploited our collective post-September 11 fears [log-in required].  Judis details the field of "political psychology," which has demonstrated the how impending fear of death [i.e., from another terrorist attack] causes people to choose differently than they would under normal circumstances.

Bush utilized this insight to great advantage in 2002 and 2004, relentlessly talking up the "war on terror" and scandalously conflating Osama bin Laden with Saddam Hussein.  Rove mapped out every step of this strategy, and Gonzales offered a facade of legal credibility to naked power grabs by the executive branch.  By 2006 there was finally enough distance from September 11 for the American electorate to realize they'd been manipulated and lied to.

Too little too late? Perhaps.  But, ever the optimist, I say, "better late than never."