Posted on 04/23/2006 9:18:06 AM PDT by Dr. Marten
They believe that only the sacrifice of one or more of the big beasts of the jungle, such as Cheney or Donald Rumsfeld, the defence secretary, will convince voters that Bush understands the need for a fresh start.
Fred Barnes of the Weekly Standard magazine and author of Rebel in Chief, a sympathetic new biography of Bush, said: “There are going to have to be sweeping personnel changes if people are going to take a second look at the Bush presidency.”
Barnes, who is close to the White House, said he believed Cheney would be willing to stand down in order to help Bush. “It’s unlike Bush to dump somebody whom he likes and respects,” he cautioned. “But the president needs to do something shocking and dramatic such as putting in Condoleezza Rice.”
Cheney appeared to have beeen caught napping during a visit to the Oval Office by China’s president, Hu Jintao, on Friday, although he claimed he had been looking down at his notes. It has often been said that he would cite medical reasons should he ever resign.
The best scenario, Barnes added, would be for Bush to announce that “Dick Cheney will be around as an outside adviser and I can call him on the phone, but I’d like to anoint somebody who I think will be the next leader of the United States”.
Tom Edmonds, a leading Republican consultant, said the White House had failed to grasp that the party was in desperate straits. “I have never talked to so many disenchanted Republicans,” he said. “The president even stonewalled the minor changes he made by talking about how he was really perfectly happy with his team. He didn’t even give himself wiggle room.”
One Republican strategist, who did not want to be named, said: “If I were Bush I would think of changing Cheney. It is one of the few substantial things he can do to change the complexion of his administration. The rest is nibbling around the edges.”
Bush’s new chief of staff, Joshua Bolten, quickly put his stamp on the inner workings of the White House last week by stripping Karl Rove, Bush’s most powerful adviser, of his policy-making role and ordering him to concentrate on his forte: winning elections.
Bolten also obtained the resignation of the White House spokesman, Scott McClellan, who was nicknamed Piggy in a recent Vanity Fair article because of his resemblance to the hapless victim of the feral boys in Lord of the Flies.
Tony Snow, a Fox News broadcaster who is favoured to replace McClellan, has previously described the Bush administration as “listless” and in dire need of change.
But a new communicator cannot reinvent an old team. Edmonds believes Rumsfeld should go. “The president is loyal to a fault,” he said. “His loyalty shouldn’t be to Rumsfeld but to the troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. We need a new, strong face on the war, such as Senator John McCain or Joe Lieberman (the pro-war Democrat senator).”
Bob Schieffer, a CBS news television presenter, said Bush may yet drop Rumsfeld despite his strong declaration of support. “It was also this president who said, ‘Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job’ and that was just before Brownie got canned,” Schieffer said, referring to Michael Brown, who directed the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s much-criticised response to Hurricane Katrina.
John Snow, the Treasury secretary, has been left twisting in the wind while replacements for him are openly discussed, and Rob Portman has been brought in to replace Bolten as budget director. Suggestions that Harriet Miers, Bush’s White House counsel who was dropped as his supreme court nominee, would be next to go were denied last week.
Supporters say Bush should live up to his bold claim that he is “the decider” — made while rejecting recent calls for Rumsfeld’s resignation from half a dozen senior generals — and start firing senior people rather than backroom staff.
“If the Democrats win either the House of Representatives or the Senate it will be death and torment. It will be horrible for Bush,” said Barnes. A Democrat win could lead to moves to impeach Bush for leading the country to war on allegedly false pretences, or at the very least, to bog down the president’s legislative programme until he leaves office in 2008.
Rove has been privately warning party activists to expect some losses in the mid-term elections. One insider said: “I’ve heard him say at several party gatherings that the president wasn’t supposed to win in 2000, but he did. We’ve increased our margins of victory time and again. We can’t just keep winning on top of winning so we’re bound to slip back, but we’re still doing better than you would historically expect.”
Only one two-term victor has been more unpopular than Bush at a similar six-year stage in his presidency — Richard Nixon in the months before he was impeached.
You call the President and idiot then post commie propaganda article whining about how it was a tragedy that the Chinese President may have been embarrassed by the fact that someone pointed out that his communist government is immoral.
First of all Hong Kong is in China. Secondly China has a state controlled media that tells its citizens what to percieve and how to percieve it, and anyone in that country who is observant questions anything that government says. Thirdly Tawain is in position to dictate anything America does. That nation would not exist if it was not for America, and that is a fact. Why don't you post some excerpts from Mao's little read book ?
You call the President and idiot then post commie propaganda article whining about how it was a tragedy that the Chinese President may have been embarrassed by the fact that someone pointed out that his communist government is immoral.
I'd rather Cheney dumped Bush for Condi.
Absolutely either they are thick or they think their readers are.
Don't forget who owns the Times - Murdoch he always has his own agenda and no doubt ensures his reporters have it as well.
Exactly they would never allow Rice to get through the confirmation hearings.
Won't happen for 2 main reasons IMHO
1) Cheney does not want to go and feels he is in the best place for his country and his President, all the time he feels that he will not resign. He has to resign he is elected. The President could ask him to go but not sack him and the President will not ask him to go because in IMHO he does not want him to go and also it would be seen as disloyalty and GWB value loyalty.
2) Cheney realises even if he wanted to go and IMHO he does not the fall out would be huge and would not only hurt the Bush administration but would hurt the re-election of the Republicans in the House and Senate. The RATS would jump on it saying it shows a divided party and leadership problems.
The third and perhaps the most damaging consideration is confirmation hearings even if the above 2 considerations are ignored.
Think of other recent ones including Rice's own for Secretary of State and John Bolton for UN Ambassador. Again too damaging for the administration and Party.
Also to be considered if Rice does not want to run for President that why would she accept/be pushed into a role which traditionally has been nothing position. Surely she is better off personally and more importantly where she is for her country.
Cheney's Vice Presidency is unique in the advice; some say power he wields; this would not be the same for Rice. For Rice it would be a demotion not promotion.
In conclusion, the President does not want it, Cheney does not want and Rice would not want it.
First of all Hong Kong is in China. Secondly China has a state controlled media that tells its citizens what to percieve and how to percieve it, and anyone in that country who is observant questions anything that government says. Thirdly Tawain is in position to dictate anything America does. That nation would not exist if it was not for America, and that is a fact. Why don't you post some excerpts from Mao's little read book ?
First off all, I'd suggest you brush up on your geography and general knowledge of China. Hong Kong is not in China. It is an autonomous region belonging to China and subject to the governance of Beijing, but the people of Hong Kong are basically free and do not experience the censorship or repression of their Mainland counterparts.
Secondly, what happened to your second point? You moved from "First of all" to "Thirdly". Did your knee-jerk reaction cause you to lose count?
Thirdly, your little rant about Taiwan (not Tawain) makes no sense whatsoever. Care to clarify?
Now that I could probably go for!
Very insightful post. It is said that the night Spiro Agnew resigned, Nixon realized that it was all over for him. Choosing a mediocrity like Ford was probably Nixon's payback to the Republicans that hung him out to dry. Imagine if Ronald Reagan was tapped! Nobody would even remember Jimmy Carter today.
It's the spineless roll-over Republicans in Congress that are jittery because they are the ones losing the base and most of them have not figured out why nor do they seem to want to know. They'll be the ones sitting around the Thanksgiving table this year scratching themselves.
EVERYBODY at the Slimez was SELECTED, not elected. Time for a change. Punch MUST resign.
This is the dumbest idea I've ever heard.
Take a hike, gidget. So what if I think Bush is an idiot?
Unlike many other Republicans I reserve the right to think for myself. I don't toe the party line or agree with something just because everyone else may be on the wagon.
You on the other hand..well..enjoy the ride.
I agree with YOU snugs, and the Conservative Base doesn't want it either. We too, would look at it as a betrayal.
[Third, morality is a debatable issue that is dictated differently from one society to the next. Just because one nations practices differ from our own does not make them immoral...]
The woman who yelled at the Chinese President was protesting their government's practice of imprisoning people who practice religion or who state unpopular political ideas. Such actions by a government are immoral not because they're different from our own, but because they're inherently evil.
This woman did something moral and courageous in protesting the way she did and I distrust the judgment of people who condemn her or who lament that the Chinese government will be embarrassed by it.
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