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W'S DRIFT TO IMPOTENCE
N Y Post ^ | December 6, 2006 | JOHN O'SULLIVAN

Posted on 12/06/2006 2:06:31 PM PST by Sabramerican

JOHN Bolton's resignation as the American ambassador to the United Nations makes it official: The Bush administration is now drifting idly toward a mixture of centrism and impotence.

In less than a month, two of President Bush's stronger and more independent aides - Donald Rumsfeld and Bolton - have been dispatched. Rumsfeld's designated successor, former CIA head Robert Gates, is a leading member of the Beltway's permanent bureaucracy.

The administration seems to be waiting for the Baker-Hamilton commission of old Washington hands to dictate U.S. policy on Iraq. Leaks from the commission suggest it will recommend a gradual U.S. withdrawal camouflaged by negotiations with Iran and Syria over a new Mideast grand bargain.

All of this feeds an exaggerated defeatism in the United States over Iraq.

.....

Rumsfeld's abrupt firing was an act of flagrant disloyalty to a loyal subordinate. The defense secretary had made his share of mistakes - notably, his failure to crush looting immediately after the fall of Baghdad - but he had followed the president's policy faithfully.

.......

We don't know for certain the reasons for Bolton's departure: Either the White House wasn't prepared to fight for him, or he was no longer prepared to lend his voice to the diplomatic charade over Iran and North Korea. Either way, his departure demonstrates timidity on the administration's part. The net result will be that Bush has one less loyal subordinate in the shrinking ranks of his own administration.

(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: bush; bushbash; bushbasherhideout; gwb; iraq; israel
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To: SJackson
If it's Hillary and I think it will be... I don't think she will pick Obama. She's too much of a control freak and between Obama and Bill they could outshine her.

As far as W is concerned he has 8 years and besides Alito and Roberts....no tax reform....tort reform...vouchers...border security..fiscal restraint...I like the guy personally but....
121 posted on 12/06/2006 4:02:45 PM PST by Blackirish
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To: Indy Pendance

Just because he has been around for four years doesn't mean he can't be zotted.


122 posted on 12/06/2006 4:03:26 PM PST by HarmlessLovableFuzzball
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To: Steve_Seattle
I don't disagree with anything you just said. I would add that I would have liked to see the Justice Department do more to take on all the leakers in this second term who have done everything possible to undermine not only this Presidency, but out country. In that regard, the buck stops with the President if he didn't direct Gonzales to be more agressive in investigating leaks throughout our government...

Now, off to cook dinner.

123 posted on 12/06/2006 4:04:11 PM PST by Arizona Carolyn
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To: OldFriend
Misunderestimated again!

You wish, oldfriend. You wish.

Pere Bush's tears the other day were not about Jeb's stiff upper lip after an electoral defeat, as he claimed. Those gushing tears and that heartwrenching anguish, a public breakdown certainly unprecedented in American history for a former president, were for Dubya, with Jeb the convenient cover.

The Bush family went after Saddam out of personal animus. They were tired of explaining why Poppa didn't carry on to Baghdad after the Gulf War, and they all hated Saddam intensely for the assassination attempt on 41. If any other individual except George W. Bush has been in the Oval Office in 2003, the unnecessary and ill-advised invasion of Iraq never -- EVER -- would have taken place. All that we see happening now was easily predictable back then. Indeed, I predicted it, as did Dick Cheney* in 1991.

We don't need to be in Iraq to enhance the security of the American people. It was a disastrous decision to invade, made by an inarticulate, ill-read man who knows nothing of the lessons of history.

All of this is now evident to the family, hence Poppa's public tears.

*Once you get to Baghdad, it’s not clear what you do with it. It’s not clear what kind of government you put in place of the one that’s currently there now. Is it going to be a Shia regime, a Sunni regime, a Kurdish regime? Or one that tilts toward the Baathists, or one that tilts toward Islamic fundamentalists? How much credibility is that going to have if it’s set up by the American military there? How long does the United States military have to stay there to protect the people that sign on for that government, and what happens once we leave?

124 posted on 12/06/2006 4:06:37 PM PST by beckett (Amor Fati)
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To: Sabramerican

Election 2008 be damned. I think Bush should begin a bombing campaign of Iran in mid summer 2008. If he can topple that monkey, I may be able to live with a Democrat president for the next 4 years. After all, the candidates we have are not that different.


125 posted on 12/06/2006 4:10:21 PM PST by HarmlessLovableFuzzball
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To: Diogenesis
Dio,
Your pictorial posts regarding the evils of Islam, and the prowess of our U.S. military against all enemies (and their compassion and care for civilians) are legendary. The Desperate Housewives have viciously lashed out at anyone that dare question President Bush's policies or actions. I have never seen you trash the President, the office of the presidency, or our troops. Quite to the contrary, you have published on FR the pictures and information that NO other outlet has made public. For that you are to be commended, not ridiculed.
126 posted on 12/06/2006 4:13:18 PM PST by ARealMothersSonForever
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To: Scarlet Pimpernel
A lot of very interesting posters have been lost and the level of discourse is generally at "I don't like what I think you said so you must be a troll" or "George Bush is a nice guy and better then Clinton so what is your problem". Pathetic, really.

bumpup

127 posted on 12/06/2006 4:18:00 PM PST by ARealMothersSonForever
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To: Arizona Carolyn

Sorry to say, the MSM is not dying. The have 50% of the people believing them. And for my reasoning the 2004 and later crowd of newbies are trolls, well, just look a the the facts, they can't site anything factual, they are knee jerk and they don't back anything up with facts. They just try to be 'cute' with their replies. And that is the way it is. Us oldtimers expect facts, but all we get a cute response to some sexual reference.


128 posted on 12/06/2006 4:18:10 PM PST by Indy Pendance
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To: FlipWilson

You didn't have to respond to me. Guess I pushed one of your buttons.


129 posted on 12/06/2006 4:19:31 PM PST by Indy Pendance
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To: Lancey Howard

I have to agree. I know lots of people who just don't vote...for any number of reasons and for none at all!

If Hitlery ran they would definitely pull that lever or press that button and vote --- for ANYONE running against her.


130 posted on 12/06/2006 4:23:17 PM PST by eleni121 ( + En Touto Nika! By this sign conquer! + Constantine the Great))
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To: andy58-in-nh
George Bush ought to have supported Donald Rumsfeld even while letting him

Whatever that means. You've been drinking the MSM koodaid. Rumsfeld was not "let go" or "fired" or any of those other words the MSM is feeding you with. He was proected from endless committee investigations which would have interfered with his effectiveness at overseeing defense and would have been an constant affront to his dignity.

He and his wife have given years for public service. They certainly did not deserve a crucifixion at the end and Pres. Bush blocked it. It was the right decision from the President.

131 posted on 12/06/2006 4:25:56 PM PST by what's up
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To: Arizona Carolyn

FR is read by far more people(including non members)than the relatively small number who actively participiate. I think of late, even going back several years, we have been infiltrated by trolls/phonies who try to appear conservative but are here to show the outside world that there is growing dissent among conservatives.


132 posted on 12/06/2006 4:30:29 PM PST by HarmlessLovableFuzzball
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To: vetsvette

Your reading comprehension skills, as evidenced by your finding of "bragging" in Bush's remarks, are exactly what I expect from a bitter little mouse. Bush earned political "capital" and said what he was going to spend it on. Big deal.... That's "bragging"? I don't think so. The fact that a cowardly and incompetent Congress (peppered with just enough scumbag "Main Street moderates") offered no help wasn't Bush's fault.

Keep digging.


133 posted on 12/06/2006 4:30:48 PM PST by Lancey Howard
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To: andy58-in-nh
Bush deserves a very significant part of the blame for failing to do more than he has, but please don't leave out people like John McCain, who basically stopped the second term in its tracks in the Senate. He made himself co-president, with veto over judges and with a cohort of likeminded leftwing GOP Senators, assured that they would control the legislative agenda.

Thanks go also to Dewine, Hagel, Graham, Chafee for grandstanding and playing to Democrat claims, which always were phony. The vote in November was a vote of disgust with this type of leadership from Republicans. Not everyone could hold their nose tight enough to vote GOP this time.

134 posted on 12/06/2006 4:32:12 PM PST by Defiant (Obama as President would make us an Obama Nation.)
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To: Cyclopean Squid

Hear, hear!


135 posted on 12/06/2006 4:33:58 PM PST by Defiant (Obama as President would make us an Obama Nation.)
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To: Indy Pendance
She's a troll.

Thanks.
Yes, I've gathered that (I need some coffee!) and I won't be responding to her further.

Regards,
LH

136 posted on 12/06/2006 4:35:24 PM PST by Lancey Howard
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To: Defiant
Not everyone could hold their nose tight enough to vote GOP this time

Yes, and these are the short-sighted folks who made it impossible for Bolton to be confirmed as UN amb.

And will be responsible for lots of other stuff that will never pass a Dem congress.

137 posted on 12/06/2006 4:35:27 PM PST by what's up
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To: HarmlessLovableFuzzball

If I read your date correctly, you only go back to 2005. How does that make you better than me, which if I read your post right it appears you are trying to infer.


138 posted on 12/06/2006 4:41:46 PM PST by Arizona Carolyn
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To: beckett

Hogwash


139 posted on 12/06/2006 4:44:21 PM PST by MEG33 (GOD BLESS OUR ARMED FORCES.)
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To: vetsvette
Its not even a drift since then. The Bushes senior and junior have always been center left, like Klintoon. They only believe in tax cuts to stimulate the economy, and not the right reason to favor them: freedom. They believe in nation building (well, destruction and then re-building), socialized medicine and welfare (free drugs for geezers program), federal control of education (no child left behind), etc.

Despite a Republican Congress we got only a half-hearted, lame attempt to do something about socialist security and the income tax, both of which should have been dismantled by now. W's judicial appointments are conservative in the sense that they will conserve the previous lefty rulings by other socialist judges, whereas what we need are radical judges who will rightly use those previous opinions as toilet paper (like Roe v. Wade).

140 posted on 12/06/2006 4:45:44 PM PST by StockAyatollah
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