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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: He Rides A White Horse

You're exactly right! I would be in utter dispair if it weren't for you all (well, SOME of you all......LOL)!

Remember back when we didn't have the internet and we just sat around mumbling to ourselves? :-)


241 posted on 12/06/2006 7:31:37 PM PST by Howlin (44 days to Destin!)
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To: Howlin
REAL authority??? Did I sleep through another election and Bush 43 is no longer President? If so, wake me when it's over.

I have been boycotting CNN and MSNBC. Gretta has on Mark Ginsberg right now.

242 posted on 12/06/2006 7:32:32 PM PST by Arizona Carolyn
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To: Arizona Carolyn

It's an attempted coup, I tell you.


243 posted on 12/06/2006 7:33:17 PM PST by Howlin (44 days to Destin!)
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To: Indy Pendance
I just compared Mike DeWine with Claude Raines yesterday after seeing Mr. Smith.....

Being in D.C. destroyed him. He really wasn't a bad guy to begin with.

Is there ANY way we can get term limits??

244 posted on 12/06/2006 7:33:51 PM PST by ohioWfan (President Bush - courageously and honorably protecting us in dangerous times, . Praise the Lord!)
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To: Howlin

and no one we could vent our comments to.


245 posted on 12/06/2006 7:34:03 PM PST by Arizona Carolyn
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To: Howlin

I read here (somewhere) tonight that we do have a third party. It's called the MSM. But, it certainly seems something very strange happened other than a change in who runs the Senate and Congress.


246 posted on 12/06/2006 7:35:19 PM PST by Arizona Carolyn
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To: Howlin; Arizona Carolyn
I had no Internet during the Clinton years.

I used to run up and down the steps screaming a lot....... :)

247 posted on 12/06/2006 7:35:37 PM PST by ohioWfan (President Bush - courageously and honorably protecting us in dangerous times, . Praise the Lord!)
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To: Arizona Carolyn

Our families!

I bet THEY are glad we have FR now...........LOL.


248 posted on 12/06/2006 7:35:56 PM PST by Howlin (44 days to Destin!)
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To: Howlin
welcome to the age of the citizen journalist.

Proceeding from that, I'll go on to say that there is a great untapped voting bloc that doesn't vote, for what reasons?

Some are too lazy to get themselves to polling places.

I have a theory about the rest.

They are disenfranchised......they think their vote means nothing, there is no point to it, it's the same old song and dance.

There is a solid core of voters on both sides; liberal and conservative. For the most part, they vote stridently........both are preaching to the choir.

It's the average Joe (Jane) that we have to capture; think seriously what it would take to get these folks to the polls, and implement it.

249 posted on 12/06/2006 7:36:31 PM PST by He Rides A White Horse (unite)
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To: ohioWfan; Howlin

One way to stay in shape and vent your emotions..


250 posted on 12/06/2006 7:36:33 PM PST by Arizona Carolyn
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To: ohioWfan

Constitutional amendment, unfortunately. Supreme Court has said no to term limits.


251 posted on 12/06/2006 7:36:46 PM PST by NinoFan
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To: ohioWfan

I have seen people on here defending DeWine lately.


252 posted on 12/06/2006 7:37:01 PM PST by Howlin (44 days to Destin!)
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To: Howlin

My husband for one... he's an artist and hates hearing all these things that get me so worked up, now he says go tell your friends on the internet.


253 posted on 12/06/2006 7:37:30 PM PST by Arizona Carolyn
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To: Arizona Carolyn
Good point.

(My kids kinda thought I was crazy, though......)

254 posted on 12/06/2006 7:37:53 PM PST by ohioWfan (President Bush - courageously and honorably protecting us in dangerous times, . Praise the Lord!)
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To: He Rides A White Horse

What is the number, 40 percent of us vote? It would be amazing if you could tap into that 60 percent that doesn't.......well, some of them anyway!


255 posted on 12/06/2006 7:38:27 PM PST by Howlin (44 days to Destin!)
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To: Arizona Carolyn
At least, even with all our diverse comments, we have a way to get down to the nitti-gritti of subject matter and tear it down to the truth.

Right.....and tear it down is what happens here.

256 posted on 12/06/2006 7:38:41 PM PST by He Rides A White Horse (unite)
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To: He Rides A White Horse

After 2000 and again in 2004 how can anyone think their vote doesn't count? Escapes me, then I've never missed an election in my adult life.


257 posted on 12/06/2006 7:38:41 PM PST by Arizona Carolyn
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To: what's up
Taliban resurgence in Afganistan? LOL.

You have your head up your ass if you think that the Taliban aren't a threat to come right back in if we don't do more to gain control in the countryside. They have unhindered control of the border regions, funding from ISI, drug lords and Saudi money, and allies in several of the former warlords. The Afghan government controls Kabul. Nato has bases from which it sends out sorties now and then.

Afghanistan is by no means a country that is on a glide path to self-sustained stability. The second we leave, it is done for. Entire regions are out of our effective control, and not controlled by the central government, either. You have no idea what you are talking about.

258 posted on 12/06/2006 7:38:41 PM PST by Defiant (Obama as President would make us an Obama Nation.)
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To: NinoFan

I know. And there's no way that Congress will amend the Constitution to curb it's own power.


259 posted on 12/06/2006 7:39:07 PM PST by ohioWfan (President Bush - courageously and honorably protecting us in dangerous times, . Praise the Lord!)
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To: ohioWfan

Thank you for knowing what it's like to have a kid serve. God Bless your soldier, and God bless your family.


260 posted on 12/06/2006 7:39:16 PM PST by Indy Pendance
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