I do so want to believe that the Bush-men are really nice people, sincere in their beliefs, just a little misguided maybe, and much misunderstood. But they don’t exactly make it easy for a wannabe believer.

Back when the names of Karl Rove and Scooter Libby first surfaced in connection with the Valerie Plame case, what we heard repeatedly from Bush and his spokesmen was that it was the policy of this administration not to comment on ongoing criminal investigations.

When Scooter Libby was indicted, Bush and his spokesmen staunchly defended Libby as a patriot of the realm, and reminded us repeatedly that he had only been indicted, and was entitled to the presumption of innocence. Not once did Bush, or anyone on his behalf, even remotely express any disappointment that Libby had lied, to the President and to Scott McClellan (so that Scottie could re-broadcast that lie to the American people).

Even though Rove has not been indicted so far, it became clear that he too had lied to the President and to Scott McClellan – on a matter of national security, no less – yet once again never did Bush, or anyone on his behalf, even remotely express any disappointment at the lying. Instead, Bush and his spokesmen made clear that Bush continued to trust Rove every bit as he had always done.

Now when news of Claude Allen’s recent arrest for refund scheme fraud made headlines, Bush and his spokesmen broke into a somewhat different tune, didn’t they? No one refused to comment on an ongoing criminal investigation. No one praised Allen’s many years of devoted public service. No one offered to cloak him with the presumption of innocence. What they did do was rush to piss all over him, with Bush going “Me first, me first!”:

“I was shocked and my first reaction was one of disappointment, deep disappointment–if it’s true–that we were not fully informed,” Bush said…

“If the allegations are true, Claude Allen did not tell my chief of staff or legal counsel the truth, and that’s deeply disappointing,” the president said. “If the allegations are true, something went wrong in Claude Allen’s life, and that is really sad.”

Yes, they did offer him that small fig leaf of “if true”, but the contrast between the response to Libby’s indictment and Allen’s arrest is still pretty stark, isn’t it?

(Incidentally, if Bush is really such a devout Christian, isn’t his first reaction supposed to be compassion? Shouldn’t Bush have prayed for him first before spraying him with the Presidential urine?)