Is George Bush Trying to Destroy the GOP?

It certainly looks like it. President Bush seems to be formulating his approach to both the war in Iraq and the Alberto Gonzales scandal to do maximum damage to the Republicans in 2008. The unpopular and ineffective surge policy was designed originally to be effective for an 18 month period between February 2007 and August 2008. In addition, all the Republican candidates have pledged themselves to support the war in the face of more than 60% public disapproval. That's a recipe for Republican disaster.

ALBERTO UBER ALLES. President Bush's diehard support for Alberto Gonzales isn't helping the GOP either. Today on Meet the Press, Tim Russert emphasized that it was Republican Senators like Lindsey Graham and Tom Coburn who really grilled Gonzalez while the Democrats were willing to let the scandal continue to "drip, drip, drip." If Bush keeps backing Gonzales, the scandals in the Department of Justice will still be percolating during the 2008 election campaign and still be dragging on Republican campaigns everywhere.

BUT MAYBE IT'S NOT A CONSPIRACY. Perhaps Bush isn't thinking about destroying the Republican Party in 2008 even if he's acting like it. Maybe Bush just doesn't care. Still, you have to wonder what Bush has against the fellow Republicans who have been nurturing him, promoting his presidency, and defending his policies so energetically. Because Bush's not caring about the Republican Party is almost as damaging as specifically trying to destroy them would be.