The MSM in every form--print, radio, TV--has been pushing the line that the White House is in dissaray and chaos. The Libby indictment is simply the straw that broke the camel’s back: That camel has been burdened with Iraq, the failed response to Katrina, the foolish Miers nomination, etc. The president is now alone, he no longer trusts his staff. It goes on and on. David Broder--a man who always seems to perfectly and thoughtlessly reflect the latest liberal-establishment view of things--asked whether the White House "has the capacity to recover" from the full retreat it finds itself in. Quite remarkable that a man can make a living saying such things. What we have here in the case of Libby, I suggest, is a cover up of a non crime, and W. must be very happy that this is all there is to it. Rove stays. But I think that the Harriet Myers debacle will be blamed on the Chief of Staff Andy Card, and he will leave by January. In the meantime the President has a do-over in the Supreme Court seat. He should decide who he nominates only on the basis of excellence, and he will win the battle and public opinion will begin to turn back toward him, as the Democrats continue to rave inanely about the far right. This will be the beginning of the comeback, helped by the economy growing at 3.8%, and the upcoming Iraqi elections. Three or four months from now, the White House will be writing another story, one that even the MSM will not be able to ignore, and the current low approval rating of 39% will be ancient history.
Let them rant...it’s not the first time they’ve gone hyperbolic over nothing. A Democrat could lose multiple cabinet members and have several officials indicted, and that would just be an opportunity for a fresh start in the eyes of the MSM. For a Republican, a stupid indictment over (possibly) lying about a non-crime is the lynchpin...our world collapses! Nonsense.
I really hope your right with that prediction Dr. Schramm! As Dain says, it is nonsense. Just a bunch of sky is falling boloney. If the American people were to pay attention in the coming months I would hope that his approval rating would go up to 65-to-70 percent. The leftover 30 % are lost liberals and partisan Democrats of course. With the media, I have found that for the most part Fox News is giving us something closer to a straight story. Not all the histerics! Not so much exaggeration. You are a man with friends in Washington, Dr. Schramm. Have you heard anything from your friends and associates there that the White House is really much calmer and stable then the Broders and other "journalists’ are telling us? I would like to hear more from the inside prospective.
I do hope that Card gets the heave-ho. It’s an underreported aspect of this that his fingerprints are all over the Miers mess, and he was in on the Souter disaster under 41 as well. It’s high time for Andy C. to start spending a lot more time with the family, I should think.
I think sending Andy Card to an ambassadorship to Botswana or somewhere is a very good idea, but my inside sources here in DC tell me that the Miers debacle was all Bush’s own doing, with a strong assist from Laura Bush, who was apparently very keen on the Miers idea.
Steve: Laura Bush? Oy vey. It almost makes me miss Nancy Reagan and her astrologers.
I have a serious question about the 3.8% - I remember reading that the GDP includes all consumer spending, does this include government spending on the war, post hurricane spending, etc. and also, does it reflect the increased spending due to higher fuel prices? I don’t understand economics as well as many that visit this site, and sometimes wonder if some of the benchmarks that are cited as economic growth really reflect a positive or negative for the U.S. economy as a whole.