Free Republic

Schieffer asked Axelrod whether he was concerned about the level of opposition against the president within his own party. "They're mad about it. They're in a rage. I mean, somebody in the house using the F-word to describe the president," Schieffer pointed out. "Some of this language they're using to describe the president [is] telling him basically to shove it." Axelrod was unperturbed. "You know what? The president of the United States has a bigger concern," Axelrod said.

President Obama, making his first trip to C.I.A. headquarters, acknowledged Monday that agency officials had expressed ‘’understandable anxiety and concern” about his decision to release confidential memos detailing brutal interrogation techniques used by agency operatives, and urged employees not to be discouraged about the ensuing uproar. “Don’t be discouraged by what’s happened in the last few weeks,” the president said. “Don’t be discouraged that we have to acknowledge potentially we’ve made some mistakes. That’s how we learn.” Mr. Obama banned the harsh techniques on his second day in office, and he acknowledged that his decision may have made the job...