GEORGE BUSH’S CHARACTER….Tom Bevan, one of the solid Republicans over at RealClear Politics, has a very clearheaded summary of the Plame affair and what the president should do about it. Here’s part of it:
Obviously, the worse case scenario is that Bush knows who leaked the information and has taken no action against them thus far. This seems absolutely insane to me and would shatter assumptions that many people (including myself) have and respect about the President.
Another equally damaging iteration of this scenario is that the President has some indication of who the leaker is but doesn’t “technically” know because he hasn’t or won’t confront that person directly. Again, this doesn’t seem rational to me given what we know about this President’s character.
Needless to say, I suspect that the president’s character isn’t quite what Tom thinks it is, but at least we’re in broad agreement that this episode gives us a chance to find out. If Bush were to get aggressive about finding out who leaked Valerie Plame’s name ? even at this late date ? I would give him credit for having more character than I suspected. If he doesn’t, people like Tom are in for a rude shock.
