Dan Froomkin Asks, "How Far Can Bush Push Congress?"

Actually, Bush has considered both the Senate and the House of Reprehensibles (sadly, quite appropriately) his bitches for some time now and, with only a relatively few and rare exceptions, I suspect he'll continue to do so. In fact, Bush is counting on the GOP to keep majority on Capitol Hill so Bush can kill Medicare, which may be part of the reason Dubya got off his rump and went down to the Hill today. Here's what Froomkin has to say:

Just how far can President Bush push Congress? We'll know soon enough.
The Bush-Cheney assertion of wartime executive power has been so extreme and widespread that even many Republicans are troubled by one manifestation or the other.

But the occasional signs of rebellion within the ruling party have time and again been crushed by the White House and GOP leadership.

This being election season, everything needs to be viewed through a political lens. And while some Republicans candidates are distancing themselves from their unpopular president in campaign commercials, they are aware that ferociously pounding Democrats for being weak on national security has worked very well for them in the last two election cycles.

The White House and the Republican leadership believe embracing the president's warrantless wiretapping program and detainee proposals are key to surviving the November elections.
But the effects of the legislation Congress is considering this week will last far beyond November. And critics argue that the White House's approach won't help protect the country so much as put captured American soldiers at risk, further blacken America's image abroad, legitimize unconstitutional treatment of detainees, erode privacy rights, cede congressional authority and institutionalize what has thus far been the extralegal assertion of nearly unchecked, and therefore potentially corrupting power, to this president as well as those to come.

Read the rest here.