Bush: Not protecting us, but protecting himself

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I've mostly stayed away from the Plame scandal simply because so much of what gets reported is "inside baseball." You know, stuff that lawyers and pundits and Beltway barking heads like to argue about, but don't really affect you and me.

But this is different:

President Bush authorized White House official I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby to disclose highly sensitive intelligence information to the news media in an attempt to discredit a CIA adviser whose views undermined the rationale for the invasion of Iraq, according to a federal prosecutor's account of Libby's testimony to a grand jury.

Yes. Well.

Did the President break the law releasing this information? Probably not -- he can declassify at will. But here's the question people must be asking themselves this morning:

"Why is the President using his powers as Commander-in-Chief to attack his political enemies?" Hint: there is no good answer to this question.

This goes waaaaaaay beyond "inside baseball." This can't be explained away with a nuanced answer. First of all, most people in the country don't do nuance. All the weasel words in the dictionary can't hide the reality that is as plain as the (lengthening) nose on Bush's face.

Here's how it'll probably play out during the next several news cycles...

The public looks around at the conduct of the war and sees that it is going badly, very badly. And not only that -- instead of punishing the enemy, the Commander in Chief is attacking (wait for it) American citizens who disagree with him.

And -- he's lying about it:

Three months before Fitzgerald began his probe in December 2003, Bush said at a news conference that "I've constantly expressed my displeasure with leaks, particularly leaks of classified information. . . . If there's a leak out of the administration, I want to know who it is. And if a person has violated law, the person will be taken care of."

While he was looking for the perp, he skipped looking in the mirror. Like they say, "We have met the enemy and he is us."

Yeah, I know what you're thinking: "It wasn't a leak! He didn't do anything wrong!" Or you might even agree with the White House spin this morning:

"By definition, the president cannot leak," [a Senior Administration Official] said. "He has the inherent authority to declassify something. . . It's like accusing a shopkeeper of shoplifting from himself."

Actually what Bush did was like a shopkeeper shoplifting from himself and blaming the crime on an innocent bystander. Whatever.

The fact is, the public doesn't do nuance. Americans are a pretty common-sensical, down-to-earth, practical, and fair-minded people. They recognize weasel-words when they hear them.

The bottom line is that Bush is revealed as a petty, vindictive tyrant who is (while Iraq burns) using the great and powerful levers of the office of the Presidency to attack his political enemies.

The conclusion is simple: Bush is NOT doing everything he can to protect us. He is doing everything he can to protect himself.

He's like the weasel who tramples women and children during a fire alarm in order to get out the door first.