In his press conference today, President Bush returned to his favored “political theater” talking point when asked about the continuing scandal at the Justice Department.
The continued drip, drip, drip of revelations has shaken public confidence in the Justice Department, the reporter asked, how can you reassure the American people?
Sounding more than a little beleaguered, Bush responded “I thought it was interesting how you started your question, ‘over the months,’ I think you said, ‘over the last months’… this investigation is taking a long time…. kind of being drug (sic) out, I suspect for political reasons… as I mentioned it the other day, it’s ‘grand political theater.’”
You might say that the investigation has taken such an awfully long time because the Justice Department misled Congress when questions were first asked about the U.S. attorney firings (senior Department officials even giving false testimony to Congress), the White House has stonewalled, a key witness invoked the Fifth Amendment, and despite all this, the revelations have just kept on coming steadily over the past three months. That might explain why Bush sounds so tired.
Update: It’s worth taking a look at our U.S. Attorney Scandal Timeline to see why the investigation has “drug on” for so long.