From Moderate Voice: Raising the firing threshold is just one more lowering of a bar in our political culture to ensure that when you have power you get to do whatever you want to do if it is within the limit of the law, even if it means one day changing your firm-sounding previous position as quickly as you'd change underwear (at least we hope). The MSNBC report's headline and subheadline says it all — and now you're going to hear on cable news shows and talk shows how "this is what he meant all along":
HEADLINE — Bush says he will fire anyone who breaks law. SUBHEADLINE — President appears to qualify standard for firing in CIA-leak case
And then the story:
WASHINGTON - President Bush said Monday that if anyone on his staff committed a crime in the CIA-leak case, that person will "no longer work in my administration." His statement represented a shift from a previous comment, when he said that he would fire anyone shown to have leaked information that exposed the identity of a CIA officer.
At the same time, Bush yet again sidestepped a question on the role of his top political adviser, Karl Rove, in the matter.
"We have a serious ongoing investigation here and it's being played out in the press," Bush said at an East Room news conference.
But surely, this can't really conflict with past statements, you say:
Bush, appearing with visiting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India, spoke a day after Time magazine's Matthew Cooper said that a 2003 phone call with Rove was the first he heard about the wife of Bush administration critic Joseph Wilson apparently working for the CIA.
Bush said in June 2004 that he would fire anyone in his administration shown to have leaked information that exposed the identity of Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame. On Monday, however, he added the qualifier that it would have to be shown that a crime was committed.
Asked at a June 10, 2004 news conference if he stood by his pledge to fire anyone found to have leaked Plame's name, Bush answered, "Yes. And that's up to the U.S. attorney to find the facts."
Now someone has to explain the shift to press secretary Scott McClellan. Notes the Washington Post:
Bush has previously indicated that he would fire anyone who leaked Plame's identity.
In 2003, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the suggestion that Rove was involved in the leak was "ridiculous."
McClellan said in a Sept. 29, 2003, briefing: "The president has set high standards, the highest of standards, for people in his administration. He's made it very clear to people in his administration that he expects them to adhere to the highest standards of conduct. If anyone in this administration was involved in it, they would no longer be in this administration."
So we have a shift. And some Democrats and journalists will point to it, note it, and write about it. But it's highly unlikely to raise an eyebrow among staunch White House supporters.
Raising the firing threshold is just one more lowering of a bar in our political culture to ensure that when you have power you get to do whatever you want to do if it is within the limit of the law, even if it means one day changing your firm-sounding previous position as quickly as you'd change underwear (at least we hope).
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