by Carol Wolman, opednews.com
Time magazine’s current edition features an article entitled “An Administration’s Epic Collapse”. Is Bush really going down? The momentum seems to be in that direction. Every week a new outrage comes to light- a coverup of pedophilia in Texas, political influence over US Attorneys in New Mexico, voter fraud in Ohio.
And yet in Washington, it’s business as usual. New outrages keep occurring- Congress funds “the surge”, Cheney lies once again about an Iraq-Al Qa’eda connection. The current wisdom says that the key issue is Iraq, and that Congress is bravely standing up to Bush by insisting on a deadline for withdrawal. Bush is being macho and saying he’ll veto any bill that sets a deadline. Pelosi defies Bush by visiting Syria. This is all smoke and mirrors, as long as impeachment is off the table. Fighting with Bush legitimizes him. In fact, the House just passed legislation that gives Bush plenty of money for Iraq, and pretty much grants permission to attack Iran, by refusing to include language that would force him to go to Congress first. The Senate just backed down on the deadline issue. Bush is still king in Washington.