"We thought we wanted transparency from the Bush administration. Now we're getting it, thanks to Fitzgerald (and no thanks to the White House), and it feels ominous. We've already had a preview of what the Bush presidency will look like with its Praetorian Guard down. Karl Rove's absence with kidney stones and his legal distractions in the last six weeks gave us a glimpse of the Bush presidency minus Bush's Brain: the out-to-lunch Katrina response, the botched Miers nomination. At least before they could pretend to have their act together. Now, as Thomas DeFrank's scoop in Monday's New York Daily News reveals, a panicky, irritable president is taking out his frustrations on what's left of his inner circle, which he could never see beyond to begin with.
It's not a reassuring spectacle. With a full 39 months to go, Prince Hal is morphing into Prince Lear. Little wonder we are obsessed with the strength and silence of Patrick Fitzgerald."
