Suckers

Photo illustration by Scott Menchin for Newsweek

This is what passes for wisdom in Washington.

A top strategist for the Texas Democrats who was disappointed by the Bill Clinton years, Mr. Dowd was impressed by the pledge of Mr. Bush, then governor of Texas, to bring a spirit of cooperation to Washington. He switched parties, joined Mr. Bush's political brain trust and dedicated the next six years to getting him to the Oval Office and keeping him there. In 2004, he was appointed the president's chief campaign strategist.

Looking back, Mr. Dowd now says his faith in Mr. Bush was misplaced. ... ...
Ex-Aide Details a Loss of Faith in the President

I remember 2000 very well. I knew exactly what kind of Republican George W. Bush was at the time he ran for president: the kind of Republican who will say anything and do anything to get elected. Evidently Matthew Dowd didn't have the sense God gave Dick Cheney's latest dead goose.

He criticized the president as failing to call the nation to a shared sense of sacrifice at a time of war, failing to reach across the political divide to build consensus and ignoring the will of the people on Iraq. He said he believed the president had not moved aggressively enough to hold anyone accountable for the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, and that Mr. Bush still approached governing with a "my way or the highway" mentality reinforced by a shrinking circle of trusted aides. ... ..

Matthew Dowd was the Alberto Gonzales of consultants: seduced, sycophantic and silent, until now. Evidently the Republicans have decided to conjure up another savior, politically speaking that is. Cast off the incompetent non-conservative in the White House in the hopes of rehabilitating the Republican party. Not. Going. To. Happen.

Mr. Dowd, a crucial part of a team that cast Senator John Kerry as a flip-flopper who could not be trusted with national security during wartime, said he had even written but never submitted an op-ed article titled "Kerry Was Right," arguing that Mr. Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat and 2004 presidential candidate, was correct in calling last year for a withdrawal from Iraq.

But in the end Matthew Dowd fell prey to his feelings, amateur stuff that made him a slave.

Mr. Dowd said, in retrospect, he was in denial.

"When you fall in love like that," he said, "and then you notice some things that don't exactly go the way you thought, what do you do? Like in a relationship, you say 'No no, no, it'll be different.' "

He fell in love with Bush? What exactly did Mr. Bush offer in 2000 that would make anyone swoon?

Dowd's going to sit 2008 out, maybe do missionary work. I kid you not, while we're left holding the bag. Poll that.

- Taylor Marsh