In George Bush’s moral universe, the one transcendent value is personal loyalty to the President. Every member of the Administration who failed to grasp that, such as John DiIulio and Paul O’Neill, soon found himself exiled from the Administration.
Don’t you suppose that it must have dawned on Bush early on – perhaps around October 2001, when it became apparent that despite his express wish, intelligence would steadfastly decline to proclaim Iraq the engineer of 9/11 – that reality was not personally loyal to him?
What could be more natural, or more forthright, than his manly revulsion at this moral flaw? Clearly, reality had become an unprofitable servant. To remain uncorrupted by its taint, the President was compelled to exile it from the White House with the rest.
Tinsel Wing 