Friday, October 28, 2005
(BN ) The Price of Bush's Kind of Loyalty: Margaret Carlson
The Price of Bush's Kind of Loyalty: Margaret Carlson (Update1)
2005-10-27 10:41 (New York)
(Updates third paragraph to indicate Miers's withdrawal as
Supreme Court nominee. Commentary. Margaret Carlson, author of
``Anyone Can Grow Up: How George Bush and I Made It to the White
House'' and former White House correspondent for Time magazine,
is a Bloomberg News columnist. The opinions expressed are her
own.)
By Margaret Carlson
Oct. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Though loyalty is a virtue, party
loyalty is often a vice. A particularly virulent species has
infected the administration of President George W. Bush, and it
is a danger to giver and receiver alike.
This loyalty binds the entire network of family and friends
that contrived to elect him. There is hardly a Republican who
won't twist into embarrassing contortions in order to demonstrate
it.
This loyalty fosters debilitating cronyism, putting people
like Michael Brown and Harriet Miers (who embarrassed Bush and
withdrew today as Supreme Court nominee) into jobs they simply
are not suited for. Loyalty to Bush's war has put Vice President
Dick Cheney, his top aide I. Lewis ``Scooter'' Libby and Karl
Rove, the president's longtime adviser, in a prosecutor's
crosshairs.
This loyalty has made aides afraid to bring the president
unwelcome news. White House Counselor Dan Bartlett had to bypass
senior staff and smuggle in a tape of the evening news to show
Bush how badly things were going in Katrina-stricken New Orleans,
contrary to what his loyal aides were telling him.
Hutchison's Knot
For those who remain loyal (and quiet), like former CIA
Director George Tenet, there's a Medal of Freedom. For those who
speak critically, like Paul O'Neill and Richard Clarke, there's
the door.
No wonder otherwise smart people do dumb things. Only an
excess of party loyalty could have twisted Senator Kay Bailey
Hutchison into such a knot on last Sunday's ``Meet the Press'' as
she tried to carry water for a White House bracing for
indictments in the CIA leak investigation.
She expressed the hope that the prosecutor wouldn't resort
to ``some perjury technicality just to show that their two years
of investigation was not a waste of time and taxpayer dollars.''
She cited the example of Martha Stewart, jailed for lying about
something that wasn't a crime.
In her haste to prove her fealty, Hutchison was off on her
example (the public seems to feel if you lie, you pay, first in
jail, then in weak Nielsen ratings for Martha's new show) and
contradicted her own belief system, at least as it stood in 1999.
The `Cabal'
That's when Hutchison misstated the case against Bill
Clinton, who, like Martha, wasn't charged with an underlying
crime (messing around with Monica was a crime against his wife,
not the federal government), but perjury and obstruction. That,
Hutchison said at that time, was sufficient to impeach him, if
not send him to the slammer.
``An oath,'' she declared, ``is the mortar of our system,''
upon which ``our other rights are based. It is how we defend
ourselves against those who would subvert our system by breaking
our laws.''
An excess of loyalty has left others full of regret. Take
Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, former Secretary of State Colin
Powell's chief of staff, who in a speech last week to the New
America Foundation revealed what we suspected but didn't have
confirmation of: that we went to war in Iraq for no valid reason
whatsoever.
We were led there, Wilkerson said, by ``a cabal'' that
included Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and others
who were given carte blanche to tell the State Department ``to go
screw itself in a closet somewhere'' by a president ``not versed
in international relations and not too much interested in them
either.''
And You, Colin?
He took Condoleezza Rice to task for letting herself be
``steamrolled,'' preferring to ``build her intimacy with the
president'' to riding herd on a rogue foreign policy.
Thanks for sharing, Colonel Wilkerson. And by the way, what
does your former boss think of what happened?
From Wilkerson's download, about the only thing Bush and
Powell agreed on is that Powell should be secretary of state.
Powell continued to believe, choosing not to resign because he
thought he could do more inside that closet Wilkerson describes
than outside. It must have been humiliating to be so ignored.
Imagine the impact if Powell, with his rectitude and moral
authority, were to tell the nation what he really thinks about
the neocon conspiracy to take us to war, the fake link between
Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda, the skimping on troops, Abu Ghraib?
It's never too late to speak truth to power. Even though the
moment the American people had to be more fully informed about
the cowboy president and how he took us to war (we call it an
election) has passed, Wilkerson warned of ``real dangerous
times'' should this crew face another terrorist attack.
Scowcroft's Loyalty
``You are going to see the ineptitude of this government in
a way that will take you back to the Declaration of
Independence,'' when it became necessary to ``throw off
tyranny,'' Wilkerson said.
Word is Powell had a forceful exit interview with Bush. How
about a forceful entry into the debate now?
Powell should take a lesson from lifelong Bush family friend
Brent Scowcroft, who spoke out in an op-ed piece before the war,
predicting that everything that has happened would happen, and
saw his friendship with Cheney and Rice damaged.
Scowcroft then fell silent, but chose to go public again in
this week's New Yorker magazine, in which he says ``Dick Cheney I
don't know anymore.'' Scowcroft is still an outcast in this White
House, but the piece contains an e-mail from the senior Bush,
whom he served as national security adviser. It hails the
importance of another kind of friend, the kind who can tell you
what you don't want to hear.
That's the kind of loyalty that could make it a virtue
again.
--Editors: Winski, Greiff, Todd.
Story illustration: To read Wilkerson's speech, see
http://www.thewashingtonnote.com. For a New Yorker interview
with its author of the story about Brent Scowcroft, see
http://www.newyorker.com/online. To comment on this column,
click on {LETT <GO>} and write a letter to the editor. For other
Carlson columns, see {NI CARLSON <GO>}.
To contact the writer of this column:
Margaret Carlson at (1)(202) 624-1981 or mcarlson3@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this column:
James Greiff at (1)(212) 617-5801 or jgreiff@bloomberg.net
[TAGINFO]
NI CARLSON
NI COLUMNISTS
NI COLUMNS
NI FEA
NI IRAQ
NI CIA
NI US
NI EXE
NI POL
NI DOD
NI STD
NI POL
NI GOV
NI GEN
NI LAW
NI DEF
NI TERROR
NI WAR
NI MIDEAST
NI LAW
NI TOP
#<698734.251583.25>#
#<254164.45857.25>#
-0- Oct/27/2005 14:41 GMT
The Price of Bush's Kind of Loyalty: Margaret Carlson (Update1) 2005-10-27 10:41 (New York) (Updates third paragraph to indicate Miers's withdrawal as Supreme Court nominee. Commentary. Margaret Carlson, author of ``Anyone Can Grow Up: How George Bush and I Made It to the White House'' and former White House correspondent for Time magazine, is a Bloomberg News columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.) By Margaret Carlson Oct. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Though loyalty is a virtue, party loyalty is often a vice. A particularly virulent species has infected the administration of President George W. Bush, and it is a danger to giver and receiver alike. This loyalty binds the entire network of family and friends that contrived to elect him. There is hardly a Republican who won't twist into embarrassing contortions in order to demonstrate it. This loyalty fosters debilitating cronyism, putting people like Michael Brown and Harriet Miers (who embarrassed Bush and withdrew today as Supreme Court nominee) into jobs they simply are not suited for. Loyalty to Bush's war has put Vice President Dick Cheney, his top aide I. Lewis ``Scooter'' Libby and Karl Rove, the president's longtime adviser, in a prosecutor's crosshairs. This loyalty has made aides afraid to bring the president unwelcome news. White House Counselor Dan Bartlett had to bypass senior staff and smuggle in a tape of the evening news to show Bush how badly things were going in Katrina-stricken New Orleans, contrary to what his loyal aides were telling him. Hutchison's Knot For those who remain loyal (and quiet), like former CIA Director George Tenet, there's a Medal of Freedom. For those who speak critically, like Paul O'Neill and Richard Clarke, there's the door. No wonder otherwise smart people do dumb things. Only an excess of party loyalty could have twisted Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison into such a knot on last Sunday's ``Meet the Press'' as she tried to carry water for a White House bracing for indictments in the CIA leak investigation. She expressed the hope that the prosecutor wouldn't resort to ``some perjury technicality just to show that their two years of investigation was not a waste of time and taxpayer dollars.'' She cited the example of Martha Stewart, jailed for lying about something that wasn't a crime. In her haste to prove her fealty, Hutchison was off on her example (the public seems to feel if you lie, you pay, first in jail, then in weak Nielsen ratings for Martha's new show) and contradicted her own belief system, at least as it stood in 1999. The `Cabal' That's when Hutchison misstated the case against Bill Clinton, who, like Martha, wasn't charged with an underlying crime (messing around with Monica was a crime against his wife, not the federal government), but perjury and obstruction. That, Hutchison said at that time, was sufficient to impeach him, if not send him to the slammer. ``An oath,'' she declared, ``is the mortar of our system,'' upon which ``our other rights are based. It is how we defend ourselves against those who would subvert our system by breaking our laws.'' An excess of loyalty has left others full of regret. Take Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, former Secretary of State Colin Powell's chief of staff, who in a speech last week to the New America Foundation revealed what we suspected but didn't have confirmation of: that we went to war in Iraq for no valid reason whatsoever. We were led there, Wilkerson said, by ``a cabal'' that included Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and others who were given carte blanche to tell the State Department ``to go screw itself in a closet somewhere'' by a president ``not versed in international relations and not too much interested in them either.'' And You, Colin? He took Condoleezza Rice to task for letting herself be ``steamrolled,'' preferring to ``build her intimacy with the president'' to riding herd on a rogue foreign policy. Thanks for sharing, Colonel Wilkerson. And by the way, what does your former boss think of what happened? From Wilkerson's download, about the only thing Bush and Powell agreed on is that Powell should be secretary of state. Powell continued to believe, choosing not to resign because he thought he could do more inside that closet Wilkerson describes than outside. It must have been humiliating to be so ignored. Imagine the impact if Powell, with his rectitude and moral authority, were to tell the nation what he really thinks about the neocon conspiracy to take us to war, the fake link between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda, the skimping on troops, Abu Ghraib? It's never too late to speak truth to power. Even though the moment the American people had to be more fully informed about the cowboy president and how he took us to war (we call it an election) has passed, Wilkerson warned of ``real dangerous times'' should this crew face another terrorist attack. Scowcroft's Loyalty ``You are going to see the ineptitude of this government in a way that will take you back to the Declaration of Independence,'' when it became necessary to ``throw off tyranny,'' Wilkerson said. Word is Powell had a forceful exit interview with Bush. How about a forceful entry into the debate now? Powell should take a lesson from lifelong Bush family friend Brent Scowcroft, who spoke out in an op-ed piece before the war, predicting that everything that has happened would happen, and saw his friendship with Cheney and Rice damaged. Scowcroft then fell silent, but chose to go public again in this week's New Yorker magazine, in which he says ``Dick Cheney I don't know anymore.'' Scowcroft is still an outcast in this White House, but the piece contains an e-mail from the senior Bush, whom he served as national security adviser. It hails the importance of another kind of friend, the kind who can tell you what you don't want to hear. That's the kind of loyalty that could make it a virtue again. --Editors: Winski, Greiff, Todd. Story illustration: To read Wilkerson's speech, see http://www.thewashingtonnote.com. For a New Yorker interview with its author of the story about Brent Scowcroft, see http://www.newyorker.com/online. To comment on this column, click on {LETT <GO>} and write a letter to the editor. For other Carlson columns, see {NI CARLSON <GO>}. To contact the writer of this column: Margaret Carlson at (1)(202) 624-1981 or mcarlson3@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this column: James Greiff at (1)(212) 617-5801 or jgreiff@bloomberg.net [TAGINFO] NI CARLSON NI COLUMNISTS NI COLUMNS NI FEA NI IRAQ NI CIA NI US NI EXE NI POL NI DOD NI STD NI POL NI GOV NI GEN NI LAW NI DEF NI TERROR NI WAR NI MIDEAST NI LAW NI TOP #<698734.251583.25># #<254164.45857.25># -0- Oct/27/2005 14:41 GMT
