Hatred of Bush?

UPDATED (I and II and III and IV)

Something I have been accused of by defenders of Bush (and that I've seen others accused of as well) when I've criticized Bush is that I "hate" Bush or that I'm "just a Bush hater." I'll leave aside any comment about what this says about them or their movement in support of their great Leader for the time being. Of course, I denied that I hated Bush, because I did not think that I did. But I did not put a great deal of thought into it. Then the latest scandal over the US Attorney firings happened. And so came a realization.

As I was sitting, thinking about this and what Alberto Gonzales has done in relation to this, I had an epiphany. I really don't hate George W. Bush. I know this for a fact now because I know that I do truly despise Alberto Gonzales, and that feeling is completely different from how I feel about Bush. Andrew Sullivan has said that he has an irrational feeling of cooties when he thinks about Hillary Clinton that he has not fully explained. I thought of that when I tried to come up with why I didn't hate Bush, despite everything he has done. Why I didn't hate him even though I despised his own handpicked Attorney General. If I would hazzard a guess, it would be because Bush just seems so lost, even though I know he really isn't. He seems so out of his league. So incurious. It is like he is a bad president more by negligence than by his personal design, which he leaves to Cheney, Rove, et al. Whereas I see Gonzales and I see someone who apparently should know better, but still revels in being a total toadie to Bush. He's supposed to be the top law enforcement officer in the nation, yet he instead ignores, violates, and spits on the law. He lies to Congress. He lies to us. And he does it with a smug look on his face, likely because he thinks he is bulletproof because of his close ties to Bush and perhaps also from being used to a do-nothing, rubber-stamp Congress.

So I've come to the conclusion that I despise Gonzales, but I really just don't have it in me to feel anything for Bush more than pity. That doesn't mean I would not want him impeached. That doesn't mean I don't want him out of office this second. But it does mean I just don't have any personal animosity for the man, for reasons that may be as difficult to fathom as Sullivan's cooties.

UPDATE I: Ok, this was a quick update. If you want to see why you too should despise Gonzales, read this, this, and this. (h/t Andrew Sullivan).

UPDATE II: Ok, and now there's this.

UPDATE III: Thanks to taz for this. Gonazales has to go. Now.

UPDATE IV: It is not nice to tease me like this.