Unrepentant Bush: It’s Fitzgerald’s Fault

Bush possibly thinking.

As many have noted, “The Worst President Ever” George W. Bush deals with the issues of his former alcoholism every day. His constant theme of blaming others and refusing to take responsibility reflect the fact he has never dealt with the causes of his disease.

Now, faced with a jury of Americans who found his assistant, Scooter Libby, guilty of lying about the White House efforts to expose a clandestine CIA agent, Bush would rather seek our sympathy for pain that special prosecutor, Patrick Fitzgerald, caused his administration.

Despite communicating that his administration would remove anyone connected with the leak of Valerie Plame’s secret identity, he never made any move to penalize anyone involved in the leak. And once Scooter was convicted of lying to investigators, Bush commuted his sentence.

Let’s look at what he said to reporters in his July 12th press conference (take special note of how he skirts around the issue of morality and responsibility):

Q You spoke very soberly and seriously in your statement about how you weighed different legal questions in coming to your decision on that commutation. But one issue that you did not address was the issue of the morality of your most senior advisors leaking the name of a confidential intelligence operator. Now that the case is over — it’s not something you’ve ever spoken to — can you say whether you’re at all disappointed in the behavior of those senior advisors? And have you communicated that disappointment to them in any way?

THE PRESIDENT: Michael, I — first of all, the Scooter Libby decision was, I thought, a fair and balanced decision. Secondly, I haven’t spent a lot of time talking about the testimony that people throughout my administration were forced to give as a result of the special prosecutor. I didn’t ask them during the time and I haven’t asked them since.

I’m aware of the fact that perhaps somebody in the administration did disclose the name of that person, and I’ve often thought about what would have happened had that person come forth and said, I did it. Would we have had this, you know, endless hours of investigation and a lot of money being spent on this matter? But it’s been a tough issue for a lot of people in the White House, and it’s run its course and now we’re going to move on.

Based on the testimony of his own aides and the evidence presented in the case, the Bush Administration led a concerted effort to destroy Ambassador Wilson’s credibility by releasing his wife’s secret identity in the CIA. What does Bush do in response? Nothing. Does he admit that there was any wrongdoing in his administration? No. Does he respect the rule of law? No.

What Bush feels is that the investigation of the leak, which identified the vice president’s strategy to leak Plame’s identity, was tough on a lot of people in the White House. Really? Perhaps it was much tougher on the clandestine contacts who were burned after Plame’s cover was blown?

Mr. Bush, you took an oath to uphold the constitution of the United States. Through your total lack of accountability, by continuing to allow flagrant violations of the law and your disdain for that oath you took to the American people, you have personally placed a black mark in the history of the United States. Your crimes make previous impeachable presidents look saintly. Nixon covered up an office break-in. You have destroyed decades of foreign goodwill. You have allowed felons to operate with impunity within your office. You pardoned the true criminals in your administration by not allowing prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald to work out a deal with Scooter Libby to name the people who really were responsible for the leak of Valerie Plame’s identity. Shame on you, George W. Bush.