Bush is loyal to a fault. Or maybe it isn't a question so much of loyalty. He could simply stay so uninformed and so distant from what truly occurs that it appears that he has a blind faith in people and shows it with his loyalty. While I cannot claim to have any insight into Bush's loyalty to a fault mentality, I find it fascinating that he is demonstrating Nixon-like behavior.
"It seems that President Bush is falling into the Nixon trap - his administration can do no wrong. His allies and people who support him can do no wrong," said Robert Dallek, a presidential historian. "Palmeiro is above suspicion, Rove is not to be questioned, John Bolton is a stand-up guy.
"The danger is he divorces himself from public reality, political reality, and it erodes his ability to lead the country," Dallek said.
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0805-03.htm
Bush does not live in the real world. He has his good old boy friends and sticks by them through thick and thin. This is all fine if you are a oil man down in Texas but he is the leader of the free world. The American public deserves more than blind loyalty!
There are several examples of this destructive loyalty. Here is one.
Several analysts said the Palmeiro situation illustrates that point. Bush took a strong stand against steroids in his 2004 State of the Union address, demanding that major league sports take tougher action to eliminate steroid use by athletes.
"The use of performance-enhancing drugs like steroids in baseball, football and other sports is dangerous and it sends the wrong message - that there are shortcuts to accomplishment and that performance is more important than character," Bush said.
But when news of Palmeiro's positive drug test and 10-day suspension by Major League Baseball became public, Bush almost instantly backed the ballplayer, saying Palmeiro spoke truthfully on March 17 when he wagged his finger at the House Government Reform Committee and emphatically denied ever using steroids.
Bush's fondness for Palmeiro - who recently became only the fourth major league player to slam more than 500 home runs and 3,000 base hits - dates back to when Palmeiro played for the Rangers under Bush's ownership.
"Rafael Palmeiro is a friend. He testified in public and I believe him," Bush said Monday. "He's the kind of person that's going to stand up in front of the klieg lights and say he didn't use steroids, and I believe him. Still do."
Reality can be slapping him in the face and denies it. I know. Bush is careful about being consistent so this may be where his loyalty come from. This person is a friend. He sticks by them with consistency.
But just because someone is a friend doesn't mean they are perfect and don't make mistakes. Bush refuses to admit this to the American public. He cannot admit the mistakes or corruption of his friends because he cannot admit his own.
And we all know this is just about steriods.
Bush's loyalty to his friends extends from the baseball diamond to the White House, where he's backed beleaguered Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove, who's mired in an investigation over who leaked the name of an undercover CIA officer, and to John Bolton, whom Bush appointed ambassador to the United Nations despite Senate reservations.
We must continue to put pressure on the White House. We will not settle for the blind loyalty that George Bush has. We will let the truth be known.