Drudge - Washington Post Story Killed: Bush Advisers Backing Card As Homeland Security Secretary

Drudge Report ^ | 18 June 2002 | Matt Drudge

[Asmodeus]

KILLED: Bush Advisers Backing Card As Homeland Security Secretary
Tue Jun 18 2002 10:03:49 ET

The WASHINGTON POST on Tuesday urgently killed a report filed by staff writer Mike Allen which claimed "Prominent advisers to President Bush are urging him to name White House Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card Jr. as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security."

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"Administration and Capitol Hill sources said Tom Ridge, Bush's director of homeland security, does not want to undergo confirmation hearings and is expected to stay in the White House as Bush's homeland security adviser, a position that would remain under the president's proposal. So several advisers to Bush are recommending that he choose Card. One prominent adviser said Card 'is an expert in instilling a culture in a bureaucracy, and has the president's total trust.' Another Bush source said Card 'has a velvet-fist management style: He lays down the law but is approachable by everyone.'"

Allen reported: "A possible complication in recruiting a secretary for the new department was revealed yesterday by a senior administration official, who said most of the department might be located outside the Washington area for security reasons."

It was not immediatly known why the POST killed the story.

"Two longtime friends of Bush's are good possibilities to succeed Card: Commerce Secretary Donald L. Evans, who was chairman of the 2000 presidential campaign, and presidential personnel director Clay Johnson III, who was Bush's transition director and his Texas chief of staff. Rep. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Bush's closest ally on Capitol Hill, could become commerce secretary or chief of staff," Allen reported.

Developing...

[hsmomx3]

Card-another one from Mass. That's what we don't need. This makes me want to gag. Like I said in another thread, he won't be getting many votes from the right come next election.

[dennisw]

Tom Ridge strikes me as kind of a dead head. Andrew Card is a real schmoozer and can make things happen. Card has the connections and knows how to connect. He was a very good lobbyist for an automobile manufacturing association in the 1990s so he know how to bust his butt for a paycheck!! He has the same attitude when he works in government.

[Behind Liberal Lines]

Maybe it's too obvious and maybe he doesn't want it, but wouldn't the American people go ga-ga over Rudy Guiliani as Secretary of Homeland Security?

[1Old Pro]

As long as they get serious about homeland security I could care less who heas it. I just hope it doesn't become soley a gov't employment center.

[Diddle E. Squat]

"who said most of the department might be located outside the Washington area for security reasons."

Good. That was the biggest single question I had remaining about the proposal new department. Concentrating it in DC would have been a weakness comparable to the Maginot Line.

[epluribus_2]

Methinks wily "W" is testing some leak pathways... probably had one of his confidants mention it in front of suspects (dems?) and waited to see where it would surface. He needs to know how the adversaries are getting info (like the CIA Green Light story over the weekend). I bet the WP thought they had a scoop then realized they'd been had. (It's gonna be Rudy, anyway).

[Semper Paratus]

Tom Ridge, Bush's director of homeland security, does not want to undergo confirmation hearings and is expected to stay in the White House as Bush's homeland security adviser, a position that would remain under the president's proposal.

????? Only in Washington.

[Mr. Bird]

I really don't see how, in the DC culture, someone could see a move from Chief of Staff to Homeland Security a step up.

And how could Ridge object to confirmation hearings, when he was willing to go through the VP vetting process?

[PhiKapMom]

Rudy is gearing up to run against Schumer from all the rumors I have heard. Don Evans as Chief of Staff would be fantastic!

[sauropod]

Oh goody!! Mr. "We don't care about the conservatives. The conservatives have no place to go." in charge of homeland security.

Guess he will institute a Massachusetts version of non=profiling.

[FreeTheHostages]

I don't buy it. Like someone else said, I doubt Ridge would be adverse to going through confirmation hearings. Ridge is the guy. Maybe this story was killed 'cause it's just not true -- just a self-interested deception by some careerist bureaucrat. I hope Ridge gets the job.

[AAABEST]

Concentrating it in DC would have been a weakness comparable to the Maginot Line.

Gosh what a perfect description for this horrific stinking pile of bureaucracy (wherever it's location). "The Maginot Line"....I love that. In fact, you can take back anything unkind I've said to you in the past for coming up with such a great analogy.

[alloysteel]

Peggy Noonan, in her column last week, suggested the best and most competent person for the job - Rudy Giuliani. He has sufficient stature to be certain of confirmation, he has dealt with the problem first-hand, and he has displayed extraordinary gumption and bravery in times of crisis.

[M. Thatcher]

I really don't see how, in the DC culture, someone could see a move from Chief of Staff to Homeland Security a step up.

Of course not. Andy is being demoted due to recent ill-advised published remarks about Rove. I knew he'd be out within six months; this is extraordinarily quick due to the severitiy of the breach.

[VaBthang4]

If the story was killed it is because there is no story.

Card is an idiot who cant sit in front of a camera.

Keep Ridge.

[Mudboy Slim]

"One prominent adviser said Card 'is an expert in instilling a culture in a bureaucracy..."

WOW!! Now there's a ringing endorsement...MUD

[Mudboy Slim]

"Peggy Noonan, in her column last week, suggested the best and most competent person for the job - Rudy Giuliani."

Excellent choice, IMHO...MUD

[GraniteStateConservative]

Rudy is running around the country collecting chits for a bigger office than senator from New York. The pace of his campaigning (for candidates many times more conservative than he no less!) is staggering.

I'd love to see him face Schumer, but I don't see it happening. I think if he can take some credit for helping the GOP win races this fall, he'll be expecting a top Administration post or a spot on the 2004 ticket-- maybe Attorney General Giuliani.

[steve50]

Makes sense. Card to take responsibility before congress, with Ridge as an unquestionable insulator between Bush and the agency. Built in ability to deny knowledge of anything. Little transparent tho