Failures of the Bush Administration

Sidney Blumenthal has this engaging, if somewhat inaccurate, criticism of the Republican brand of limited government. But what it shows, more than anything, is that incompetence reigns supreme at the White House.

On the right Bush has been accused of snatching defeat from the mouth of victory by elevating John Roberts to Chief Justice. The thinking goes, if Bush had left Roberts to fill O'Connor's seat he could have nominated another conservative to replace Rehnquist, thus moving the court "one notch to the right." Now, with centrist O'Connor's seat open again, the risk is he is going to have to nominate someone more palatable to the left.

I think we will shortly see more and more Republicans in congress bolting from administration policy, and Bush is already a lame duck, even before the 2006 elections.