The American Spectator

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In this piece, Jeffrey Lord touches upon George Bush’s other war: the one against the bureaucracy.

The Plame business was the highest profile battle of this conflict — a conflict which has been covered almost not at all by the media.

Bush has tried to wrest some the power from the bureaucrats — and that is the ultimate government no-no.

The standard scenario calls for an administration to be voted in, strut and fret its way around Washington for four or eight years — and then go away (often with many of its component parts being absorbed into the bureaucracy).

Meanwhile, the “pros” work along, running things pretty much as they want to no matter what noises come out of the White House.

p>Bush tried to change this — and, perhaps, battling both terrorists and bureaucrats is just too much. br> — Bill Naegele br> Albuquerque, New Mexico /p>

While Republican Presidents in general have not been as ruthless as the Dems when taking over the Executive Branch from the Dems, the Bush Administration has led the list in not only not ousting the Dems that they could, but in holding over and re-appointing Clinton partisans within the government. There was the retention of the Director of the CIA, for starters. There is Maura Harty at State that Powell, and now Rice, keep promoting despite one fiasco after another, and obvious undermining of administration policy edicts. There is Paul Bremmer, who was the initial official on the ground to screw up post-invasion Iraq.

There is the edict by Bush himself that no member of the Clinton White House team would be charged for the vandalism at the White House on their way out. There is the faint-hearted prosecution and mild pat on the wrist received by Sandy “Socks” Berger, while a Bush prosecutor insures serious prison time for law enforcement officers trying to enforce our laws against ILLEGAL aliens. On top of that, Bush won’t even roll up his sleeves and fight the Dems for his judicial nominees.

I could go on and on, but the bottom line is that Bush, and some other GOP presidents, are not serious about partisan politics. They treat it very much as a gentleman’s diversion at their men’s club, subject to all the niceties that one would find at the Harvard Club or the Skull and Bones Society. To the left, partisan politics goes beyond a blood sport to full-scale blood feuds, and they darn well are going to treat it as such each and every time. The most recent proof lies in the actions and tactics of the Congress, now that both Houses are in Democrat control. Contrast that with the way that business was run under the direction of Trent Lott, or Dr. Frist, or Speaker Dennis Hastert, or various chairman of standing committees of the two Houses of Congress.