A President All Alone by Robert Novak

A President All Alone
by Robert Novak

Novak contrasts Republican support for the notion of pardoning Libby just two weeks ago with the current lack of "public GOP declarations of support" regarding AG Gonzalez.

Novak goes on to say:

But this is less a Gonzales problem than a Bush problem. With nearly two years remaining in his presidency, George W. Bush is alone. In half a century, I have not seen a president so isolated from his own party in Congress -- not Jimmy Carter, not even Richard Nixon as he faced impeachment.

Republicans in Congress do not trust their president to protect them.

AND:

But not many Republican lawmakers would speak up for Gonzales even if they were sure Bush would stick with him. He is the least popular Cabinet member on Capitol Hill, even more disliked than Rumsfeld was. The word most often used by Republicans to describe the management of the Justice Department under Gonzales is "incompetent."

Novak says one saving grace in all this for Republicans is that it takes some attention away from the unpopular war in Iraq.

He also says the "I-word" is being mentioned more often by Republicans. Incompetence. The Republicans on Capitol Hill that Novak has spoken with cite a "trifecta" of incompetence on the part of the Bush Administration: the Walter Reed hospital scandal, the FBI's misuse of the USA Patriot Act and the U.S. attorneys firing fiasco.

Only a trifecta?

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