Bush and The Bug Man

In The Bug Man just keeps whining--and another oh so liberal newspaper is critical, I raised the possibility that there are problems between Bush and The Bug Man which could damage DeLay in his current struggles. Then, in working on DeLay admits he is The Bug Man, I discovered that those problems go back several years.

The article I used for that post revealed a less-than-perfect relationship between the two men. According to the report, DeLay was upset with White House pressure--via then press secretary Ari Fleischer--for the House to pass a bill giving tax credits to low-income families.

"Last time I checked," DeLay had snapped to reporters, "he didn't have a vote." DeLay and conservatives resented being forced to accede to what they felt was slapdash legislation--and being made to look miserly for it. Bush didn't back down, saying he wanted a bill passed quickly. The flinty Congressman would not let the matter drop and moments later brought it up with some G.O.P. leaders present. "We didn't appreciate it," he said of the White House pressure. "Well," Bush said with a smile, "we were trying to nudge you along."

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Increasingly, the Texas Republican feels that he and his conservative colleagues have been isolated by the Administration, despite their repeated success in passing the President's agenda. "They take the House for granted," a G.O.P. leadership aide said."This was Tom saying, 'Hey, take notice of me.'"

Ooo...me-ow! I had no idea this situation existed. The article detailed one other point of contention between the two:

But sometimes the White House goes too far with its tendency to use him as a foil to show voters that the President is a compassionate conservative. During the 2000 campaign, Bush opposed a DeLay-backed plan on tax credits for the poor to demonstrate that he was a "new kind of Republican," distinct from the G.O.P.'s tightfisted, meanspirited wing. At the time, Bush accused DeLay & Co. of trying to "balance their budget on the backs of the poor." According to a DeLay confidant, Bush later apologized and said he would not use DeLay as a right-wing bogeyman again.

This is serious stuff. To the extent the Republican/Bush agenda has made it through Congress, The Bug Man is a big reason why. DeLay has become very powerful, and he has established that power in large part on his own. More to the point, he does not owe his position to Bush. People like The Bug Man do not like to be ordered around, and they damn sure do not like being made out to be a "bogeyman" by people in their own party. In other words, DeLay has some real power, and he really likes getting his way. The problem for The Bug Man is that no matter how much power he has, he still is not the President, and this President not only likes getting his way, he has more resources at his disposal. And now it looks like the sandbox is not big enough for both of them.

Or are they really friends? This very question was put to Scotty McClellan in the press briefing of April 13, 2005. Check this out:

Q: Scott, you said a couple days ago that, as the President said, he considers Tom Delay a friend. I actually went back -- I never saw the President say that anywhere. He said he had confidence in Tom DeLay. And I also noticed that Tom DeLay said when the President was running for President in 2000 -- or 1999 -- that Bush was not a social friend of his. So does Bush consider --

MR. McCLELLAN: There are a number of congressional leaders that he works closely with on the Hill and he considers a friend, sure.

Q: And he considers Tom DeLay a friend?

MR. McCLELLAN: Sure. I mean, I think there are different levels of friendship with anybody, so -- (laughter.) Well, no, you referred to social friends and -- but, no, he certainly is a friend.

Q: What level of friendship are you referring to here?

MR. McCLELLAN: A friend. The President considers him such. And we support his efforts, along with the efforts of other congressional leaders, to move forward on the agenda that the American people want us to enact.

As the saying goes,"with friends like these..." This is far from a vote of confidence or ringing endorsement. To get the full flavor of McClellan's statements, you really need to see the video. Click on the above link and then click on the video link on that page. McClellan starts talking about DeLay about 1/4 into the video, and the portion excerpted above is about 1/3 in.

Now I really think this situation bears watching. On the one hand, I think that DeLay could not win a power struggle with Bush. It might be that Bush is not going to really support DeLay unless The Bug Man agrees to bow down to Bush and agree to keep doing so. On the other hand, it also looks like Bush does not have control over the House, and that is DeLay's power base. And who knows how The Bug Man will react if Bush hangs him out to dry?