And give up show business?

President George W. Bush said Attorney General Alberto Gonzales continues to have his full support and dismissed as "pure political theater'' Democratic proposals for no-confidence votes on the embattled Justice Department chief.

"He has got my confidence. He has done nothing wrong,'' Bush said today in response to a question during a news conference at his Texas ranch. "I stand by Al Gonzales.''

Obviously, it's insane to suggest that legislative calls for accountability and transparency on the part of another branch of government 'theater.' Put another way, the president is deriding democracy as theater. That could have something to do with the fact that he heads the most corrupt and inept administration in the nation's history.

But one of those rules for dealing with the new GOP is "if they accuse you of it, they're doing it themselves." And the recent veto of the Iraq spending bill makes the point. As you may recall from earlier this month, the 'first CEO president' argues that unlimited funding for his tragic failures in Afghanistan and Iraq shouldn't be tied to any notions of progress or success. Now that's top-notch business policy! And the antithesis of professed conservative values of small government and fiscal responsibility.

But Fearless Leader wasn't about to simply sign his second veto measure in six years. Not symbolic enough. Or, if I may, not theatrical enough. On May 7, 2007, Bush vetoed the bill with a pen given to him by the father of a Marine killed in Iraq. There's certainly nothing wrong with that, if indeed the man asked Bush to do just that, but how did the story and the event become national news if it was a private moment between Bush and a citizen? Hmmmm....