Why Does Bob Dole Hate President Bush?

From the Post.

Emboldened by the decline in President Bush's approval ratings, the Iraq prisoner abuse scandal and setbacks in the Iraq war, the Republican Congress is showing signs of taking a more assertive approach to its dealings with the administration.

One Senate committee is holding hearings into abuse of prisoners in Iraq and a second is about to issue a report on intelligence failures before the Iraq war. Early this month, a House Appropriations subcommittee, meeting behind closed doors, quickly rejected Bush's request for a free hand in spending a $25 billion contingency fund for the war in Iraq, stipulating instead how all but $1 billion would be used.

The same day, the Senate voted 95 to 0 to approve the war money with slightly less stringent conditions.

...

Former Senate majority leader Robert J. Dole (R-Kan.) said: "I see signs of this, and it's reassuring. When a catastrophic event happens, everyone is going to do almost anything [to help the president]. But when you get down the road a little bit, you want to see what we did wrong or how much money we spent."

So we can count Bob Dole among those who believe Congress should serve a higher function than mere formality, consulted only when all other avenues of discourse have been exhausted, and expected to sign off on the President's every wish and desire.

In other words, (that usually means an utterly pointless pop culture reference will be arriving in moments) the President has spent the last three years thinking of Congress as his genie in the magic lamp, and he's about to find out that his wishes are all gone.

Words of wisdom to Congress: watch out. Because secretly, just like Jafar in Aladdin, President Bush wishes he could use one of his wishes to become the Genie in the lamp; thereby infusing in him both the powers of Congress and those of the Presidency, but also resulting in the creation of some sort of evil Bush super-genie.