The Education of George W. Bush

"Mr. Newhouse says it is a measure of Mr. Bush's dismal standing that his best job-approval score is for handling the unpopular war in Iraq: Only 33% approve, yet that is 12 points higher than his rating for handling the economy and five points higher than his overall-job score."

Another Crop of Bush Medals

James Gerstenzang writes in the Los Angeles Times: "President Bush will award the nation's highest civilian award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, to a veteran federal judge, Laurence H. Silberman, whose controversial role in national security issues has made him a champion to conservatives, and retired Marine Gen. Peter Pace, who was denied a second term as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. . . .

"In choosing Silberman and Pace, Bush is focusing attention on two figures closely identified with the central elements of his national security policy, the campaign against terrorism and the war in Iraq. . . .

"At least two of Silberman's former law clerks have gone on to establish themselves as key Bush administration allies in the national security arena: Viet D. Dinh, chief author of the USA Patriot Act, passed after the Sept. 11 attacks, and John C. Yoo, who as deputy assistant attorney general wrote a memorandum in 2002 widely viewed as permitting torture in the fight against terrorism.

"The White House announcement said Silberman had 'devoted his life to promoting, enforcing and defending the rule of law.'"

David Stout writes in the New York Times: "Two Democrats are among the six. Donna E. Shalala, president of the University of Miami in Florida and a former president of Hunter College who was secretary of health and human services under President Bill Clinton, is one. The other is the late Representative Tom Lantos of California, a Hungarian-born Jew who was the only Holocaust survivor to serve in Congress and was widely known as a human rights champion. Mr. Lantos died on Feb. 11. . . .

"General Pace is not the first Medal of Freedom recipient to be associated with the war in Iraq. On Dec. 14, 2004, the president bestowed medals on George J. Tenet, the longtime director of central intelligence who built the case for going to war based in part on assessments that Iraq possessed deadly unconventional weapons; Gen. Tommy R. Franks, the overall commander of the invasion of Iraq; and L. Paul Bremer III, the chief civilian administrator of the American occupation of the country."

Silberman, who co-chaired a Bush-appointed commission tasked to investigate how intelligence on Iraqi WMDs could have gone so wrong, conveniently came back in March 2005 with a report that spread blame pretty much everywhere but the White House.

And as Michelle Goldberg wrote for Salon in 2004, Silberman has "been near the febrile center of the largest political scandals of the past two decades, from the rumored 'October surprise' of 1980 and the Iran-contra trials to the character assassination of Anita Hill and the impeachment of President Clinton. Whenever right-wing conspiracies swing into action, Silberman is there."

Bush's Impeachment Insurance

Dana Milbank writes in The Washington Post that the House yesterday sent Rep. Dennis Kucinich's articles of impeachment against Bush to the Judiciary Committee, where they will die a quiet death.

"Why so unwilling to impeach Bush? As Democratic leaders like to say, two words: Dick Cheney. At this late stage in his presidency, Bush can still feel confident that his job is secure, if only because his foes are so terrified of the man who would succeed him.

"As it happens, the Dark Lord himself had escaped the confines of his secure, undisclosed location yesterday afternoon and was giving a speech to the friendly ears of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. His topic: energy. His solution: more oil. . . .