Posted by
Bruce Bartlett on Tuesday, June 05, 2007 6:12:30 PM
In recent posts, I have been talking about tipping points that turned many conservatives against George W. Bush. For me, it was the massively expensive Medicare drug benefit; for others it is de facto amnesty for illegal aliens. Today, Bush's willingness to let Lewis Libby go to jail by failing to give him a pardon has become the tipping point for at least one very prominent Bush supporter who said this:
So much for loyalty, or decency, or courage. For President Bush, loyalty is apparently a one-way street; decency is something he's for as long as he doesn't have to take any risks in its behalf; and courage--well, that's nowhere to be seen. Many of us used to respect President Bush. Can one respect him still?
The author of that remarkably bitter statement is Bill Kristol, editor of the Weekly Standard. It can be found here:
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/013/734azcei.asp
When Bush loses people like Bill Kristol, who has slavishly defended him day after day after day, one wonders whether there will be anybody left not on a government payroll who will be willing to defend him in the future. For Bush, this is bad, very bad.
Addendum:
On June 6, the Wall Street Journal had this to say:
As for President Bush, it was the cowardice and incompetence of his Administration that led Mr. Libby to this pass. Feeling "terrible" won't keep his man out of prison.