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If this is true then I am sure that Andy Card is very uncomfortable and feels very guilty about it as it is a well known fact he and his wife are very close to the President. Note I use the word if.

There have been many times since he left office that he has been seen in the company of the President and comments about how they can now be personnel friends again without obvious hindrance (paraphrased but I think you get the drift).

Unfortunately one cannot let slip any personal preferences you may have to any journalist whatever their past record has been. At the end of the day they will not pass up on a good story.

However I will say again IMHO if it happened it was not deliberate or in any way aimed at hurting the President or the administration.

snugs you are so right in this post...but his job as COS is to present all options to the President good or bad...Card is still smarting from the perception by many that the President was in a bubble and following that theory then Card wasn't presenting all options to the President..whatever he said to Woodward might have been an attempt to show he was doing that part of his job....just my thoughts

I agree with your "if" questions. Also, Card's job was to protect the President and IF he thought it would have helped Bush to get rid of Rumsfeld, he was right to say something. And IF President Bush disagreed, he make the right decision to keep Rummy in place. Personally, I don't have a problem with any of this and keeping Secretary Rumsfeld in place has proved to be a good decision and he's done an outstanding job, IMHO.

I would also add I've had spirited debates and disagreements with every relative and friend at one time or another. So what?

I didn't see the full interview, but Card has always impressed me as dutiful, but a bit of a bumbler and naive. He NEVER should have submitted to an interview with Woodward, and not avoiding it .. NEVER should have given him ONE inside tidbit about Rumsfeld or anyone else.

It was just plain stupid in this vitriolic cutthroat environment, and there's no doubt it hurts W and our election chances. I could just strangle him because he's inadvertenly and stupidly contributed to the momentum of the current piling on.

Folks don't realize how insidious one's image and perception of image is in this bloodthirsty DC game. Woodward pulled off a good one .. he got in their good graces by writing Bush at War and the other book, which were fairly complimentary.

He built up some trust with the Bush team and wrote a book with a novel concept at the time: a positive depiction of W and the team. That made him $$$.

That Card or anyone else at the WH was stupid enough to let down their guard and spilled inside info for the new book (which turns out to be a total departure from the theme of the first two ... now it's an attack), especially about a subject as politically sensitive as Rumseld, shows a stunning level of naivete and stupidity.

Either it's to see his name in a book or to innocently help W, but either way .. I think it was a huge mistake on Card's part. He's just not strong enough to appropriately defend his input now.

And with Woodward .. it's still about the same thing: $$$ and regaining the prestige and image he lost among his DC colleagues for leaving the reservation with the first two.

I bet Woodward didn't get Cheney to comment. And I will look anew at the snippets I hear from the book (I'm not buying it) and note THE FOLKS WHO WOODWARD DIDN'T BAMBOOZLE.