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So, is there any real significance


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Shuffling the deck chairs on the Titanic. Bush is stuck in a bubble, he refuses to look for replacements outside his inner circle, and therefore gets new people who have the same old ideas. Bolton is a different messenger with the same message.

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Shuffling the deck chairs on the Titanic.  Bush is stuck in a bubble, he refuses to look for replacements outside his inner circle, and therefore gets new people who have the same old ideas.  Bolton is a different messenger with the same message.

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Probably some truth to that, but for COS I don't think I'd go outside the family either.

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Probably some truth to that, but for COS I don't think I'd go outside the family either.

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Who does go "outside the family" for that? Clinton sure as hell didn't, Bush I didn't, Reagan didn't...that's about as far back as I reasonably remember.

 

Plus...define the "family". And consider the source. PastaJoe would consider it "inside the family" if Bush appointed anyone to the right of Ted Kennedy.

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Who does go "outside the family" for that?  Clinton sure as hell didn't, Bush I didn't, Reagan didn't...that's about as far back as I reasonably remember.

 

Plus...define the "family".  And consider the source.  PastaJoe would consider it "inside the family" if Bush appointed anyone to the right of Ted Kennedy.

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Nobody. It would be a very stupid move, organizational wise for a dozen reasons. By family I refer to those already working in the White House (which we all know extends to many other buildings, but you get my meaning).

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Any significance?

Tough to say, because as usual this administration has been all over the map.

 

Back on the 16th, despite a call for a shake-up from his own party, Dubya said he was satisfied with his staff. From a recent CNN story.

According to sources involved in the discussions, some veteran Republicans have been quietly trying to convince White House chief of staff Andy Card to bring in at least one "adult," like a former senator or another "experienced hand," to help him reach out to congressional leaders, troubleshoot and, in the words of one source, "just be in the loop and give advice."

 

The Mouth of the Emporer, Scott McClellan, in a classic moment of irony, deemed discussions of a white-house shakeup "babble".

Wednesday, White House press secretary Scott McClellan took exception to questions about changes to the White House staff.

 

"The president has surrounded himself with a very capable and experienced team that is fully committed to helping him advance his agenda and get things done," McClellan said.

 

"This is part of the inside Washington babble that goes on in this town," he said. "It's part of the parlor game."

 

As recent as a few days ago, the administration expressed it's confidence in Card.

On Tuesday, a White House spokeswoman referred a question on Card's future to the comments the president made during his press conference.

Specifically:

Bush, in his second full-blown press conference this year with reporters, said Tuesday that while he would consider adding another adviser, he was happy with his staff.

 

"I've got a staff of people that have, first of all, placed their country above their self-interests," Bush said, according to a transcript of the press conference posted on the White House Web site.

 

"These are good, hardworking, decent people. And we've dealt with a lot. We've dealt with a lot. We've dealt with war, we've dealt with recession, we've dealt with scandal, we've dealt with Katrina. I mean, they had a lot on their plate. And I appreciate their performance and their hard work and they've got my confidence," Bush said.

 

So, we can speculate why yet another administration official leaves (Claude Allen for "personal reasons" ie shoplifting, Gale Norton for "personal reasons" ie possible connection to Jack Abramoff, Scooter Libby for perjury, obstruction of justice, lying, leaking government secrets and outing a CIA operative). Does it even matter at this point anyway, with the Bush approval numbers at 33% and dropping (for what it's worth, I can't see his numbers dropping any further, as there are a lot of people out there who will go to the mat for this guy no matter what)? His own party is running away from him in an election year. His example of how everything is just dandy in Iraq has been exposed as a total exaggeration. The loss of Andy Card, who might have been the single-most benign, scandal-free member of this administration isn't going to do much.

 

 

Here's the text of the resignation announcement:

Excerpt....

CARD: Mr. President, Ecclesiastes reminds us that there are different seasons, and there is a new season. Working in the White House is a tremendous privilege, and it‘s almost beyond description the great privilege it is to work at the White House. But it is even a greater honor to serve as the president‘s chief of stay, especially to you, Mr. President.

 

I have watched as you have kept your oath to preserve, protect and defend that Constitution. And I know that there are a lot of people who help you do that and it starts with the White House staff, it goes through everybody who serves in the executive branch of government and most especially those young men and women who wear uniforms and help defend us.

 

I‘ve watched your leadership guide them during troubled times. I‘ve watched you comfort Americans, rally the world to meet real needs. I‘ve watched as you‘ve guided us from a recession to economic recovery. But, most of all, I‘ve watched you as a person. And you‘re a good man, Mr. President, and you do great things.

 

I am grateful for the friendship that you‘ve shown me. I‘m grateful for the lover that Laura has shared with Kathy and with me. I‘m grateful for the White House staff that has served you so well and helped me do a better job.

 

But it is a different season, and Josh Bolten is the right person for that season.

 

I‘m excited about the leadership that he will bring to the White House staff and to all of your government.

 

And I‘m grateful to the Cabinet that has helped to serve you as well.

 

But, Mr. President, as a chief of staff, I know I was a staffer, and now I look forward to being your friend.

 

Thank you, Mr. President.

 

:doh: Yup. VABills and Andy Card quote Ecclesiastes on the same day!

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I always got the sense that he was more of an administrator the political kinda guy, does anyone know anything about his replacement?

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Can't find any dirt, yet. :doh: Wikipedia has a link to his poitical contributions.

 

 

Found this little nugget on Card, regarding the NSA scandal. Seems Card and then-White-House-counsel Gonzales had to go visit Ashcroft in the hospital regarding a "dust-up" between Justice and the White House.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., remains the most skeptical Republican in Congress. He's said he intends to call Gonzales up to his committee for a second appearance to testify about other classified intelligence programs that the attorney general hinted at in a recent letter.

 

Specter also had been pressing for a hearing with former Attorney General John Ashcroft and his deputy, but has abandoned that request.

 

Among other issues, lawmakers wanted to know about a 2004 dustup over the surveillance between the White House and Justice officials, including Deputy Attorney General James Comey. It reportedly got so serious that White House Chief of Staff Andy Card and then-White House counsel Gonzales visited Ashcroft in the hospital to discuss the concerns of his deputies.

 

Specter hinted that the administration opposed the testimony of Ashcroft and Comey.

 

That was from the beginning of this month. Also, isn't Card one of the members of WHIG? Yup (thanks wiki)

The White House Iraq Group (aka, White House Information Group or WHIG) was the marketing arm of the Republican Party whose purpose was to sell the 2003 invasion of Iraq to the public. The task force was set up in August 2002 by White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card and chaired by Karl Rove to coordinate all the executive branch elements in the run-up to the war in Iraq. One example of the WHIG's functions and influence is the "escalation of rhetoric about the danger that Iraq posed to the U.S., including the introduction of the term 'mushroom cloud'"

You almost feel dirty yourself looking into how slimey the Bushies are.

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Yup, the liberals B word, and Tom, B word that the White house marketing sucks, that the white house doesn't have a plan, they need to replace people, and then when it happens, we get:

 

They're all dirty.

 

They lie.

 

Why didn't they get someone from the left.

 

It's still the titanic.

 

 

 

 

 

Please stop your whining.

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Please stop your whining.

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Whose whining? I'm making popcorn. Andy Card resigning is like getting a bandaid for a gaping chest wound. Now we have the juicy revelation that Rove is actually helping out Fitzgerald in the Plame investigation of Libby.

According to several Pentagon sources close to Rove and others familiar with the inquiry, Bush's senior adviser tipped off Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald to information that led to the recent "discovery" of 250 pages of missing email from the office of Vice President Dick Cheney.

[...]

According to one source close to the case, Rove is providing information on deleted emails, erased hard drives and other types of obstruction by staff and other officials in the Vice President's office. Pentagon sources close to Rove confirmed this account.

You give that many crooks that kind of power, put them all in the same room, and you're bound to implode at some point. It's a testimony (did he just say "testimony"?) to Dubya's business education and accumen that it didn't happen sooner. :doh:

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They resigned him?  For how much?  What's the cap hit?  Is he a high motor kind of guy.  :doh:

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No big deal, maybe compensation picks, nobody wanted to deal with his crappy agent. I know many here are going to whine that he should have had the franchise tag, but who is going to work in a place where the pastry chef is making more money.

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No big deal, maybe compensation picks, nobody wanted to deal with his crappy agent.  I know many here are going to whine that he should have had the franchise tag, but who is going to work in a place where the pastry chef is making more money.

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:doh: Damn! I need to get back into the food biz. Oh, that's right, pastry chef's are usually French fags. :P

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No big deal, maybe compensation picks, nobody wanted to deal with his crappy agent.  I know many here are going to whine that he should have had the franchise tag, but who is going to work in a place where the pastry chef is making more money.

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Yeh and for less hours. I am suprised that more folks that work at the WH don't just drop dead of heart failure. To many hours, rubber chicken and metal bars keeping you in with armed guards.

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