Capitol Hill Blue: Bush’s Erratic Behavior Worries White House Aides
Well, looks like the denizens of the West Wing are beginning to feel the pain from working for George W. Bush.
“In meetings with top aides and administration officials, the President goes from quoting the Bible in one breath to obscene tantrums against the media, Democrats and others that he classifies as “enemies of the state.” Worried White House aides paint a portrait of a man on the edge, increasingly wary of those who disagree with him and paranoid of a public that no longer trusts his policies in Iraq or at home.
“It reminds me of the Nixon days,” says a longtime GOP political consultant with contacts in the White House. “Everybody is an enemy; everybody is out to get him. That’s the mood over there.” In interviews with a number of White House staffers who were willing to talk off the record, a picture of an administration under siege has emerged, led by a man who declares his decisions to be “God’s will” and then tells aides to “fuck over” anyone they consider to be an opponent of the administration.
“We’re at war, there’s no doubt about it. What I don’t know anymore is just who the enemy might be,” says one troubled White House aide. “We seem to spend more time trying to destroy John Kerry than al Qaeda and our enemies list just keeps growing and growing.”
It is indeed alarmingly Nixonian. You know, news summaries scrawled with demands to have the Revenue set on reporters who said rude things about his nibs, enemies under the beds and loading up on lawyers. Perhaps George has found one of Nixon’s old bottles of Dilantin tablets?Hey Doc, you got any more of the goood stuff? Or maybe he’s just back on the sauce? One thing Nixon didn’t have, which I suppose was one of his redeeming features, was that curious overtone of religious certainty. God’s will, indeed.