Arianna Huffington, whom I normally enjoy greatly, went off on James Carville this week. She doesn't find him entertaining, which is fair considering he's on infotainment shows as opposed to doing real journalism; but she takes, I think, a totally wrong wrong read on his appearance on The Situation Room. When Wolf Blitzer asked him about Cheney and Plamegate, Carville's response was to focus on the president, using the term "Vice nothing" to emphasize that the buck is supposed to stop with Bush.
Arianna read this as ducking the issue, and she puts the blame on the fact that Mary Matalin, Carville's wife, worked for Cheney during the first term. She thinks Carville is compromised as a result and should be off the air entirely, saying nothing. Because he refused to talk about Cheney, Arianna argues, the net effect is to give Cheney a pass. I see it differently.
Carville has three choices. One, as Arianna suggests, get off the air and say nothing about Plamegate. That would certainly prevent him from acting as if his wife was not part of the mess, when quite clearly she is implicated. Two, he could do what Arianna would really love, and that's to tear Cheney a new one. We know that Cheney is dirty, that he's the real power (with Rove), and that he holds unprecendented power over the president (well, maybe Mrs Wilson, but that's another story).
Third, Carville can take a pass on Cheney -- there are more than a few people willing to fill that role -- and focus on the bottom line, the point that history will record: This is all Bush's responsibility. He's the president, however many of us feel he was elected illegitimately. Truman was right: The buck stops with the president, and this president ducked and covered. He abdicated his duties far worse than Reagan; Reagan at least tried to pay a modicum of attention until his mind couldn't function. Bush has been a coward and a liar and a cheat, and I want people like James Carville, who has a great pulpit on national tv, to raise the rafters with that message. Should Cheney be indicted and spend the rest of his slimy life in prison? Of course he should. The whole gang of them deserve decades of busting rocks and chain gangs. But George W Bush is the one whose name is on the door. He's the ultimate villian in this, and I don't care if Carville gives his wife a pass; if she's dirty, someone will make that clear. It's not her husband's job.
In our anger at the evils being perpetrated by this administration, let's not lose our focus on the things that matter most. I don't think James Carville's blinded by love, but he doesn't have to beat his wife in public. He can, however, take a whipping stick to the village idiot from Crawford. Arianna should cheer that and cut the man some slack for standing by his woman -- silently.