Turbulent Times for Bush Administration
By Richard Mathiasen
October was not an easy month for the Bush administration. The controversies haunting them include the indictment of Irve Lewis “Scooter” Libby, former Chief of Staff to Vice President Cheney, the criminal investigation of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) for campaign finance fraud, the investigation of Tennessee Senator Bill Frist (R-TN) under allegations of insider trading, and the unsuccessful nomination and subsequent withdrawal of Harriet Miers for Supreme Court Justice.
The indictment of Libby came over the controversy concerning CIA operative Valerie Plame. Plame was as an undercover CIA officer, described by former officer Larry Johnson as operating as a “non-official cover operative.” This means that she was working under deep cover overseas, unofficially for the United States and, if caught, would most likely be executed. Plame’s identity as a classified operative was revealed in a July 14, 2003 syndicated column by Robert Novak. Plame’s husband, Joseph C. Wilson, claims that his wife’s identity was revealed in retaliation to his report, “What I Didn’t Find in Africa.” The piece was written regarding the Bush administration’s assertion that former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was attempting to buy “yellowcake” nuclear materials from Niger. Wilson, in an investigative trip to Africa on behalf of Washington found no evidence to support such claims, and stated so in his op-ed written July 6, 2003. Five days later, the CIA admitted the claims were a mistake. Three days after that, Wilson’s wife, officer Valerie Plame, was identified as a deep cover CIA operative. When questioned, Novak stated that Plame’s identity was leaked to him by leading White House officials.
Libby has been charged with several counts of perjury and obstruction of justice as of October 28th, is thought to have allegedly leaked Plame’s identity to the press, and could face up to 30 years in prison if convicted. Also under investigation is Bush’s senior political advisor Karl Rove, though he has not been indicted as of this printing.
In addition, there is the investigation surrounding the former House Majority Leader Senator Tom DeLay. DeLay, recently in the public eye over his staunch opposition to Terry Schiavo, a severely brain damaged woman, being taken off life support against her husband’s, and purportedly her own wishes, has recently been indicted on multiple charges including the unethical acceptance of personal gifts such as golfing holidays in Scotland (provided by gambling lobbyist Jack Abramhoff), and the illegal distribution of corporate campaign contributions to help solidify Republican dominance in the Texas legislature. DeLay was officially indicted by a Texas grand jury on September 28th.
Also in the crossfire has been Senator Bill Frist. Once a leading candidate for the Republican presidential nomination for the election of 2008, Frist has since come under investigation for illegal insider trading. Upon joining the Senate, Frist placed his stock assets into what is known as a “blind trust,” placing his assets into the hands of his executors while retaining no personal knowledge of what said assets actually are. This was done in order to eliminate any conflicts of interest upon his confirmation to the US Senate. Such conflict of interest might arise from Frist’s substantial holdings in HCA stock (Hospital Corporation of America), which has long been under investigation for double-book keeping and other counts of fraud. On September 20, 2005, the Associated Press reported that Frist had sold his shares of HCA two weeks prior to a major drop in value.
Frist responded to allegations of insider trading with the statement that he sold said shares in order to avoid a conflict of interest given his position in the Senate. This conflicted with a previous statement given during a television interview in January, 2003 (regarding his placement of assets into a blind trust in order to avoid such a conflict) in which he said, “Well, I think really for our viewers it should be understood that I put this into a blind trust. So as far as I know, I own no HCA stock.” The ensuing scandal has since forced the Senator to reconsider his ambition to run in the 2008 presidential campaign.
On October 3rd, President Bush announced his nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court, replacing the retiring Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. Miers had been a lawyer for 27 years in the private sector, working as legal council for then-governor George W. Bush. Her nomination drew flak from the left-wing as could be expected, with the Democrats accusing Miers of being a Bush “crony,” given her close, personal relationship with the president. Republicans, on the other hand, criticized her lack of judicial experience as well as her somewhat shaky stance on many right-wing issues such as abortion and affirmative action. Under enormous pressure from both sides, Miers withdrew her nomination.
Given these scandals (coupled with the faltering public opinion of the war in Iraq as the American death toll crossed 2000), it is little surprise that President Bush’s approval rating fell to 39% during October.
After Miers withdrew her nomination, Bush heeded the clamor of his conservative base to pick someone with solid Republican credentials. He nominated Samuel Anthony Alito Jr., generally considered the most conservative judge on the Third District Court of Appeals, a judge so much in the mold of Antonio Scalia that both supporters and detractors nickname him “Scalito”. James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family Action, said he was “extremely pleased,” and the anti-abortion Operation: Rescue declared that the country was on “the fast-track to derailing Roe v. Wade as the law of the land.”
With Alito’s nomination, Bush has recovered some lost ground with conservatives. But with Libby’s indictment and Democrats pushing for a full investigation over how intelligence may have been manipulated to bring the country into war, Bush still faces a host of problems.
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