Pithy Comments
April 19th, 2006Ed Koch, the former Mayor of New York who has made waves in the last few years supporting the Bush Presidency, is out arguing that “Democrats Can Win, But Not By Bashing Bush.” Because hugging the President worked so well? Ed Koch is Zell Miller without the pistol or accent, and should be accorded as such: with a seat at the Republican Convention, not in a political decision-making position in the Democratic Party.
Of the famous pair composed of Woodward and Bernstein, Carl Bernstein is the most overlooked because he doesn’t like to whore for every Administration in Washington. Bob Woodward loves the limelight like Richard Nixon loved wiretaps, and he hates offending people like Nancy Reagan hated Barbara Bush. Whereas Woodward writes puff pieces, Bernstein sticks to himself for the most part, but when he comes out to write, he doesn’t do it with the fear of God (or, worse in Woodward’s eyes, the fear of losing invitations to Colin Powell’s tea parties). We need Senate Hearings on Bush, now. It’s fascinating and dead on — not just because it’s making the right call, but because it puts things in historical perspective and adds the type of insight that only comes when you’re writing out of genuine conviction.
Instead of being an insufferable crony at best, and suck up at worst.
Josh Bolten, the new Chief of Staff at the White House, prefers his shakeups shaken, not stirred, and as such, the Press Secretary of George W. Bush has resigned, and Karl Rove has given up his position as Deputy Chief of Staff.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove gave up some of his responsibilities and White House press secretary Scott McClellan announced his resignation Wednesday, continuing a shake-up in President Bush’s administration that has already yielded a new chief of staff. Rove is giving up oversight of policy development to focus more on politics with the approach of the fall midterm elections.
Just over a year ago, Rove was promoted to deputy chief of staff in charge of most White House policy coordination. That new portfolio came on top of his title as senior adviser and role of chief policy aide to Bush. But now, the job of deputy chief of staff for policy is being given to Joel Kaplan, the deputy budget director.
First: I’ve never shared the fury shared by so many (Helen Thomas!) toward Scotty. He’s just the messenger, and a poor one at that. In the Bush White House, like all White Houses, the Press Secretary is out of the loop and likely the most stressed individual, both because he has to deal with dozens of reporters at a time and nobody tells him anything. Is it good that he’s gone? It doesn’t amount to a hill of beans, ultimately — at least not in regard to policy. Perhaps they’ll find someone more likeable with the media, but that doesn’t mean anything in the end.
Next, and more importantly, the news that Rove has been dethroned as the Deputy Chief of Staff means that Karl Rove’s hold on policy making is diminishing. That is good news for all Americans, as policy makers shouldn’t be political operatives, either. Mark Hannah didn’t make Teddy Roosevelt’s policy and Dick Morris didn’t make Bill Clinton’s. The fact that Rove’s being pushed away from this sphere of influence is positive in every way. Hopefully it’s followed by Donald Rumsfeld’s exile from the Pentagon, although it’s hard to tell whether that’s in the cards.
George Ryan, the corrupt former Governor of Illinois, was found guilty in his trial. People who think they’re God get put in their place, and in this case it was Patrick Fitzgerald who did the smiting. Nobody has the right to defraud the public, and if you want to make millions of dollars, don’t go into the public sector. That’s why there’s a private sector. Except that Ryan doesn’t get it. I’m sure he’ll understand “Jail Time” well, though — and if those two words don’t pique his understanding, then there are plenty of inmates who can. Ultimately, the fall of Governor Ryan illustrates what Tom DeLay’s illustrates — that being that no man is above the law.
And, while we’re speaking about Governor Ryan, his moratorium on the Death Penalty in Illinois was a phony political move, and it’s a joke that he was ever considered to be a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. In my view, barring great attempts such as Woodrow Wilson’s push for the League of Nations, the Peace Prize belongs to citizens who push for peace within the hellholes of the Earth, such as Shirin Ebadi or Aung San Suu Kyi. It certainly doesn’t belong to a pushy, rotund criminal whose gift to humanity is a bit of last-minute pandering, no matter how right that one move was.
Off the subject and in closing, Joe Liberman puts reporters to sleep. My, how the mighty have fallen, no?