Free Republic

WASHINGTON -- Everybody in Washington's Republican political community was well aware that any changes George W. Bush made in his White House staff would not constitute a shake-up. What nobody expected was that Josh Bolten, in essence a professional bureaucrat, would be promoted to chief of staff. Yet, this selection becomes understandable as a confirmation of Karl Rove's supremacy in the White House.Rove holds the mundane titles of senior adviser to the president and deputy chief of staff, but scarcely anything happens in the Bush administration without his approval. Now he is more influential than ever. Andrew Card, the departing...

Now the question is whether Card wanted to quit his job or whether he needed to. The White House announced Card’s resignation on Tuesday and his replacement, budget director Joshua Bolten. Card first offered his resignation three weeks ago, according to the White House. That was just after the first polls showed just how much the White House was bleeding support after the Dubai ports story. A CBS poll gave Bush a job approval rating of only 34 percent and a personal favorability rating of 29 percent. (NEWSWEEK’s poll later showed the president with a 36-percent approval rating.) Bush won...

Budget Director Joshua Bolten has privately issued an unprecedented challenge to unhappy conservative Republicans in Congress: Go ahead and cut President Bush's domestic budget if you can. We won't oppose you. Bolten addressed GOP lawmakers assembled in Philadelphia just before the budget was released. Conservatives grumbled that Bush's proposed increase in discretionary domestic spending of only one quarter of one percent was bogus, because its reductions in popular programs never will pass Congress.

<p>President Bush has resolutely pursued three top priorities: winning the war on terror, protecting the homeland and strengthening the economy. While rarely challenging these goals, some commentators now suggest that, in their pursuit, the administration has unwisely neglected deficit reduction and fiscal discipline. From the left, the president's tax cuts are blamed for driving the federal budget into deficit. From the right, the president is criticized for acquiescing in a Congressional domestic spending spree. Neither charge stands up to scrutiny.</p>

May 22 — By Adam Entous WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush picked trusted adviser Joshua Bolten on Thursday to serve as White House budget director, a job that puts him at the center of a brewing election-year battle over record budget deficits. Bolten, who was a deputy White House chief of staff, vowed to be "a tight-fisted custodian of the people's money" while advocating Bush's tax-and-spending priorities, which Democrats blame for turning record budget surpluses into record deficits. His nomination as the director of the Office of Management and Budget must be approved by the Senate, which may prove difficult....