Is It Time To Stick A Fork in Dubya?

Robert Novak strongly hints the President is done:

The I-word (for incompetence) is used by Republicans in describing the Bush administration generally. Several of them I talked to described a trifecta of incompetence: the Walter Reed hospital scandal, the FBI's misuse of the Patriot Act and the U.S. attorneys firing fiasco. "We always have claimed that we were the party of better management," one House leader told me. "How can we claim that anymore?"

The reconstruction of his government after Bush's re-election in 2004, though a year late, clearly improved the president's team. Yet the addition of extraordinary public servants Josh Bolten, Tony Snow and Rob Portman has not changed the image of incompetence.

A few Republicans blame incessant attack from the new Democratic majority in Congress for that image. Many more say today's problems by the administration derive from yesterday's mistakes, whose impact persists. The answer that is not entertained by the president's most severe GOP critics, even when not speaking for quotation, is that this is just the governing style of George W. Bush and never will change while he is in the Oval Office.

Regarding the Libby-Gonzales equation, unofficial word from the White House is not reassuring. One credible source says the president never -- not even on the way out of the Oval Office in January 2009 -- will pardon Libby. Another equally good source says the president never will ask Gonzales to resign. That exactly reverses the prevailing Republican opinion in Congress. Bush is alone.

Reagan could handle quarreling advisors with strong experience and opinions. George W. Bush has proven unable to use those who are not part of his inner circle. Moreover, he hasn't shown much concern for loyal aides like Donald Rumsfeld who weren't part of the Crawford clique.

Net-net is he's surrounded himself with loyal incompetents. Dick Cheney and his people are about the only bright spots, and Dubya's proven willing to toss them to the wolves. How long will they hang around to wait for their bogus indictments?