This is, at least in theory,
puzzling:
The administration quickly distanced itself Tuesday from the suggestion by religious broadcaster and Bush backer Pat Robertson that the United States assassinate a leftist Latin American head of state. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack called Robertson's remarks about Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez "inappropriate," but stopped short of condemning them. "This is not the policy of the United States government," McCormack said. "We do not share his views.". . . McCormack tiptoed around the question of whether the rest of the world might assume that Robertson speaks, if not directly for Bush, at least for a sizable share of the Republican Party. "I would think that people around the world would take the comments for what they are," McCormack said. "They're the expression of one citizen."
That is rich. When BushCo feels compelled to say crap like this:
Trent Duffy, a White House spokesman subbing for Scott McClellan, said that President Bush believes that those who want the U.S. to begin to change course in Iraq do not want America to win the overall "war on terror." Speaking to reporters, Duffy said that Bush "can understand that people don't share his view that we must win the war on terror."
What crap. Dems are calling Bush on this:
Democrats called the Bush administration's response tepid, and said it lends credence to the notion that the White House doesn't want to offend some of its most loyal supporters. "It seems they are shuffling their feet when they should be running away from what Pat Robertson said," Democratic political consultant Steve McMahon said. "That this president, who projects himself as brave and bold, doesn't want to stand up to his own right wing is ironic."
Ironic but, in a way, not surprising. Bush and the Republicans are the Party of Joe McCarthy AND the Party of Dobson. No false smear of Democrats is left unsaid and no disagreement with the extremists of their extreme GOP will ever be spoken.
Wingnuts on parade.