With Bush's approval rating falling through the cellar, it's time his machine got to work to distract the media. Obviously there's the whole Kerry/intern story, but the other big story in the news today is about an FBI investigation of
'roids in sports.
Is there any doubt now
why George Bush included his statement about steroids in the SOTU? What a profile in courage for him to come out in front of this issue? I'm shocked, shocked, professional athletes use 'roids.
What he can do is to push legislation that would reclassify androstenedione and similar steroid precursors as controlled substances and curtail the slapdash sale of over-the-counter supplements.
Or better yet, he can pressure the justice department into an investigation on an almost completely unimportant issue that does very little harm to this country because it's politically advantageous. It's not like the justice department has more pressing matters.
I'm sure many readers here can remember the rap Bill Clinton got for "politicizing the DOJ." If you don't here's a typical example from 1997 (before the Elian debacle):
The term "politicization" fails to capture the true nature and gravity of what really is going wrong down at the headquarters of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, where I was employed as a special agent for more than 26 years.
The FBI's problems are a combination of micromanagement and abuse by politicians who believe the agency exists for the purpose of punishing political enemies or scoring political victories in the media. Most troubling is the fact that some in the FBI's senior management who were brought to the FBI by Director Louis Freeh cannot seem to bring themselves to say "no" to clearly improper and possibly illegal requests by the Clinton White House.
Keep in mind that the FBI is an agency housed within the Department of Justice, or DOJ, and therefore reports to the president's attorney general. Amazingly, many people think that somehow the FBI has "independence" when in fact it does not - except to the extent to which each FBI director can demand it. (J. Edgar Hoover did and got it.) But should citizens be concerned about the way the White House is using the FBI?
That's Gary Aldrich. How long do you guys think it will take him or anyone else in the SCLM to pen another missive about the Bush administrations overt politicization of the DOJ?
(this is essentially crossposted from my own blog)
