Cheney Sticks to His Delusions

"As Bush remains locked in a standoff with the Democratic-led Congress over Iraq spending and resists direct talks with Syria, Iran and the Palestinian Hamas party, others are stepping up to the plate."

Slipping Away?

Matt Spetalnick writes for Reuters: "With George W. Bush struggling to stay relevant in his final 22 months in the White House, his administration is looking more and more like the incredible shrinking presidency.

"He finds himself increasingly hemmed in by public approval ratings stuck in the low 30 percent range, a hostile Democratic majority in Congress and an unpopular war that has eroded his credibility at home and abroad. . . .

"Bush denies he is slipping into lame-duck status, and the White House insists he has the ear of the American people.

"But mindful of his unpopularity, aides seem more intent than ever that he play to sympathetic audiences. He recently addressed the American Legion and a cattlemen's group and stopped at a California army base en route to his Texas ranch.

"An avid baseball fan, Bush also declined to throw out the first pitch of the Major League season this week. Aides blamed a scheduling conflict. But there were suspicions the White House feared he would be booed."

An Epic Collapse?

Joe Klein writes in his opinion column for Time about what he calls "the epic collapse of the Bush Administration":

"The three big Bush stories of 2007--the decision to 'surge' in Iraq, the scandalous treatment of wounded veterans at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the firing of eight U.S. Attorneys for tawdry political reasons--precisely illuminate the three qualities that make this Administration one of the worst in American history: arrogance (the surge), incompetence (Walter Reed) and cynicism (the U.S. Attorneys). . . .

"When Bush came to office--installed by the Supreme Court after receiving fewer votes than Al Gore--I speculated that the new President would have to govern in a bipartisan manner to be successful. He chose the opposite path, and his hyper-partisanship has proved to be a travesty of governance and a comprehensive failure. I've tried to be respectful of the man and the office, but the three defining sins of the Bush Administration--arrogance, incompetence, cynicism--are congenital: they're part of his personality. They're not likely to change. And it is increasingly difficult to imagine yet another two years of slow bleed with a leader so clearly unfit to lead."

Tom Teepen writes in his opinion column for Cox News Service: "The wheels may not have come off the Bush administration, but at best it's running on the rims. Hence, all these sparks...

"George Bush came to office as the whelp of Republican elders who, from Reagan on, had bought into the right wing's broad, ideological and almost congenital contempt for the federal government. It shows."

Justice Watch

Paul Kane writes for The Washington Post: "The Justice Department is refusing to release hundreds of pages of additional documents related to the firings of eight U.S. attorneys, setting up a fresh clash with Capitol Hill in a controversy that continues to threaten Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales's hold on his position.

"The Senate Judiciary Committee, whose investigators have been allowed to view, but not obtain copies of, the records in question, is preparing subpoenas for those papers as well as for all e-mails or documents from the Justice Department and the White House connected to the dismissals of the prosecutors."

David Johnston writes in the New York Times: "The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee asked Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales on Thursday to provide the panel with a written account of his role in last year's dismissals of eight United States attorneys at least two days before his scheduled April 17 testimony.

"In a letter to Mr. Gonzales, the chairman, Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat of Vermont, requested 'a full and complete account of the development of the plan to replace United States attorneys, and all the specifics of your role in connection with that matter.'"

Bolten's Horrible Year

Michael Abramowitz writes in The Washington Post: "In just under a year as White House chief of staff, Joshua B. Bolten has engineered a thorough overhaul of top administration personnel, pushed to end 'happy talk' about conditions in Iraq, and tried to reposition the president on issues such as the environment, the budget, detainee treatment and health care.

"Yet as Bolten approaches his first anniversary on the job, he and the president he serves find themselves as politically besieged as ever. President Bush's approval ratings -- 36 percent, according to the most recent Washington Post-ABC News poll -- are lower than when Bolten took over last April. And the president is embroiled in new controversies involving his attorney general and the handling of military health care, while trying to fend off an unexpectedly strong challenge to his Iraq policy from congressional Democrats.

"The setbacks suggest the limits of what colleagues and friends describe as Bolten's quiet drive to recast the administration along more pragmatic lines. Put in place to try to bring order to the administration, the low-key Bolten has found even incremental progress difficult to achieve, especially in a White House that has often valued political loyalty over competence, according to many lawmakers, political strategists and administration officials."

But Abramowitz overlooks the fact that Bolten's "thorough overhaul" of top personnel nevertheless left Cheney and Karl Rove as Bush's preeminent advisers. With those two running the show, there's only so much any chief of staff could accomplish.

Recess Appointments

Here is USA Today's Susan Page with MSNBC's Chris Matthews yesterday:

Page: "Bush demonstrated yesterday that he retains, despite all his troubles in his second term, the power to do a lot of things, including making appointments like this. But what is the cost? What is the cost when he goes back and wants to make a deal on immigration, or wants to get this spending bill through? I think there is some cost here."

Matthews: "Is this, to use the street expression, screw you? Is that what he is saying to the Congress?"

Page: "Yes."

The New York Times editorial board writes: "All three are extraordinarily bad appointments -- and three more reminders of how Mr. Bush's claims of wanting to work with Congress's Democratic leadership are just empty words."

The Washington Post editorial board writes: "Mr. Bush can't simultaneously complain that his nominees aren't being accorded due process and take steps to avoid due process. If the administration hopes to achieve anything in its final months, the administration would do well to make more of an effort to adapt to the Senate's new political landscape."

The Wall Street Journal editorial board writes (subscription required): "The Bush folks showed some rare gumption toward Congress with its appointments this week."

And Mary Lu Carnevale writes for the Wall Street Journal (subscription required): "With Bush quick to use recess appointments while Congress is out, consumer groups fear he will leapfrog Democratic opposition and recess-appoint National Association of Manufacturers lobbyist -- and longtime Republican lobbyist -- Michael Baroody to head Consumer Product Safety Commission. 'There couldn't be a worse candidate for this position,' says Public Citizen."

Rove Watch

The Philadelphia Inquirer editorial board writes: "Most people have never heard of Lurita Alexis Doan, but she figures prominently in yet another scandal emerging from the Bush White House.

"Doan is the head of the General Services Administration, which has a $60 billion budget to manage federal properties and procure equipment for government employees. . . .

"The Democrat-controlled House is investigating whether Doan violated the Hatch Act for a meeting she hosted at the GSA on Jan. 26. In attendance at this brown-bag lunch were more than 40 political appointees from around the country, participating via teleconference. They saw a PowerPoint presentation from J. Scott Jennings, who happens to be deputy political director to Karl Rove, the president's political guru."

Justin Rood blogs for ABCNews: "Doan may not have been the only top official to host a White House political official at her agency. The White House political office has been giving presentations similar to the one at GSA since at least 2002, briefing officials throughout the government on Republican campaign information, according to a recent book by two Los Angeles Times reporters.

"'[White House political adviser Karl] Rove and [former Bush campaign chief and one-time Republican National Committee head Ken] Mehlman ventured to nearly every cabinet agency to share key polling data' leading up to the 2002 midterm elections, wrote Tom Hamburger and Peter Wallsten in their book, 'One Party Country,' 'and to deliver a reminder of White House priorities, including the need for the president's allies to win in the next election.'

"While previous administrations had sent officials to cabinet agencies, the duo wrote, 'Such intense regular communication from the political office had never occurred before.'"

And Julie Mason writes in the Houston Chronicle about where Rove's attention is focused now: "Under Rove's direction, the White House is looking toward 2008 and beyond to rebuild a Republican majority that will keep intact Bush legacy items like the war on terrorism, the No Child Left Behind education policy and tax cuts.

"To that end, the White House political machine is at work on the 2008 congressional elections, developing issues, preparing to raise money, and identifying vulnerable Republican incumbents with an eye toward replacing them in the primary with sturdier contenders.

"The 2008 presidential campaign is also a focus, and more of a potential minefield for preservation of President Bush's role in history, since none of the Republican front-runners are Bush loyalists, to put it mildly."

Impeachment Watch

Christina Bellantoni writes in the Washington Times: "Congressional Democrats say their constituents are clamoring for something even the most liberal lawmakers promise they won't pursue: President Bush's impeachment.

"'I get one call after another saying, 'Impeach the president,' ' said Rep. John P. Murtha, Pennsylvania Democrat and one of Mr. Bush's most relentless critics on the Iraq war. . . .

"'The timing is all wrong,' said Rep. Jerrold Nadler, New York Democrat. 'If this were the first two years of his administration I would advocate impeachment. A lot of people at home say impeachment, and I'm sure he committed a lot of impeachable offenses, but think about it practically.' . . .

"Rep. Diane Watson, California Democrat, said she hears calls for impeachment from every crowd.''

"'They say, 'Democrats: Do something. Get Cheney, Karl Rove, Alberto Gonzales.' They are saying impeachment. I am hearing that more and more and more,' said Ms. Watson."

Egg on Its Face

Amy Argetsinger and Roxanne Roberts write in The Washington Post: "The annual White House display of 51 decorated Easter eggs has the state of Wyoming shellshocked.

"Since 1994, artists from the 50 states and D.C. have created insanely elaborate, Faberge-style eggs for the White House Visitor Center. Laura Bush unveiled this year's display on Tuesday. (Check them out on the White House Web site.) That's when Ben Neary, an AP reporter based in Cheyenne, noticed that Wyoming's entry -- an amateurish line drawing of an egg skiing down a mountain -- was created by Phillip LeDonne of Elmhurst, Illinois."

Cartoon Watch

Jim Morin on mistakes; Tony Auth on the British example; Stuart Carlson on Bush and the Easter Bunny.

Late Night Humor

Jay Leno, via U.S. News: President Bush 'went on vacation to his ranch in Texas for what the White House said was a short weekend break. You know, aren't we at war? Anybody else's weekend start on Wednesday? Try that at your job: 'Boss, I'd like to take the weekend off. I'll be leaving Tuesday night.'