Tuesday, July 19, 2005

The Bush standard

For months, President Bush has said he would fire anyone found to have leaked information leading to the unmasking of CIA officer Valerie Plame, a pledge which he reaffirmed as recently as June 10. Now that Bush's Deputy Chief of Staff, Karl Rove, and Vice President Dick Cheney's Chief of Staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, have been implicated by Matthew Cooper, a reporter for Time Magazine, Bush is quickly backing away from his promise, saying yesterday, "If someone committed a crime, they will no longer work in my administration."

Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) said the standard for holding a high White House position "should not simply be that you didn't break the law," and the nation seems to agree with him. An ABC News poll released yesterday found that only one-quarter of Americans believe the White House is fully cooperating with the investigation

For Bush, who campaigned as a straight shooter with promises to "uphold the honor and dignity of the White House," this shifting stance on who he will hold accountable reveals how sensitive a special prosecutor's investigation of the CIA leak is becoming for Bush.

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