Sharp elbows
One of the most intriguing quotes this morning comes from the front page NYTimes story claiming that new Sec Def Robert Gates lobbied hard for the closing of Guantanamo.
The internal politics pitted Gates and Rice for the closure against Cheney and Gonzales who wanted to keep Guantanamo operational. Needless to say, Cheney won the argument, but it was this little bit that caught my eye.
My point is this. Washington can be a very vicious town. When someone wobbles, anyone with a policy difference may jump in for their own reasons.
I'm not saying that someone in the White House staff is going to tank Gonzales because of this Guantanamo dispute, but, there was an attempt here to send Gonzales a very loud message through the NYTimes that he might find more support if he softened that stance. (And I think it's highly likely that Gonzales knows the "senior administration official" behind this quote.)
We have already seen some indications that some of career folks in the Justice Dept and National Security apparatus leaking and quietly pointing the Dem Congress towards problems for their own political reasons, but if the White House has come to this point of working out their dirty laundry in public, the divisions must be very strong.
And if they're to the point where "senior administration officials" are threatening each other on the front page of the NYTimes, this is a White House in a whole lot of trouble.
(Also in "sharp elbows," a WaPo frontpager outlining the extraordinary months long effort by Karl Rove to get his unqualified assistant, the 2004 Bush campaign's opposition researcher, placed as the Arkansas US Attorney. (Hillary Clinton, Whitewater, the 2008 campaign, and Rove's attack man with subpoenas and the investigative power of a US Attorney.))
The internal politics pitted Gates and Rice for the closure against Cheney and Gonzales who wanted to keep Guantanamo operational. Needless to say, Cheney won the argument, but it was this little bit that caught my eye.
Even so, one senior administration official who favors the closing of the facility said the battle might be renewed.
My point is this. Washington can be a very vicious town. When someone wobbles, anyone with a policy difference may jump in for their own reasons.
I'm not saying that someone in the White House staff is going to tank Gonzales because of this Guantanamo dispute, but, there was an attempt here to send Gonzales a very loud message through the NYTimes that he might find more support if he softened that stance. (And I think it's highly likely that Gonzales knows the "senior administration official" behind this quote.)
We have already seen some indications that some of career folks in the Justice Dept and National Security apparatus leaking and quietly pointing the Dem Congress towards problems for their own political reasons, but if the White House has come to this point of working out their dirty laundry in public, the divisions must be very strong.
And if they're to the point where "senior administration officials" are threatening each other on the front page of the NYTimes, this is a White House in a whole lot of trouble.
(Also in "sharp elbows," a WaPo frontpager outlining the extraordinary months long effort by Karl Rove to get his unqualified assistant, the 2004 Bush campaign's opposition researcher, placed as the Arkansas US Attorney. (Hillary Clinton, Whitewater, the 2008 campaign, and Rove's attack man with subpoenas and the investigative power of a US Attorney.))
posted by mikevotes at
8:26 AM
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