The Speaker's Wrath

by Robert Novak - May 18th, 2006 - TownHall.com

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, a 64-year-old ex-high school wrestling coach, ordinarily is not a shouter. But according to Capitol Hill sources, he engaged in a high decibel rant last week when he met with Vice President Dick Cheney. The speaker was enraged by the sacking of his friend and former colleague, Porter Goss.

Hastert was so vituperative that a private session with President George W. Bush in the living quarters of the White House was scheduled immediately (although Hastert aides said the meeting had been planned previously). The speaker toned down his volume on the hallowed ground and did more listening than talking. But the president did not slake Hastert's wrath over the abrupt sacking of Goss as CIA director.

George W. Bush has proven once again that he is not a politician, nor much of a statesman, nor much of a Republican. Porter Goss was sent to the CIA for a simple reason. The CIA had declared war on the Republican Party. Democrats, never any true friend of the role and purpose of the CIA, were attacking Goss for defending Bush. Clinton era promotees were being shown the door for involving themeselves in political actions that were clearly illegal. So Bush, ever anxious to befriend his enemies, sacked Goss.

At a time when Bush needs friends in his own party, he is once again the target of conservatives who are outraged at his position on immigration, and his willingness to stab them in the back. The comment about "vigilantes" comes to mind.

Between Bush's incompetent wasting of political capital on the failed efforts on Social Security, something his own party never was unified on, and his failure to maintain focus on the war, this latest tone deaf attack on his base seems almost suicidal (politically!).