Inside baseball

In a bit of a hurry this morning, but there are three good "inside baseball" stories on the Bush administration this morning.

The WaPo has an article on the upcoming Draper book, loaded with lots of chewy little bits we haven't heard before. (John Roberts, Harriet Miers, Rove's leaving, Bush's biking, Rumsfeld's firing....)

The WaPo also has a piece looking at Condi Rice, her rise to Sec State, her relationship with Bush, her change from a "realist" to whatever Bush is, and a more personalizing look at her day to day. (This sounds like one of those pieces where a top figure authorizes her staff to talk to a reporter in an effort to rehab an image.)

And, Newsweek has a short Periscope piece saying the reason Gonzales left was the widening internal Justice Department investigation. (It sounds like Gonzales wanted to stay on, but was thrown overboard at that Sunday dinner at Crawford.)

(Okay, one more. Regarding the British pullout in Basra

But the move produced an angry reaction in Washington. Bush administration officials were furious that the operation was launched at a time when the president is begging for more time for his "surge" strategy to turn the tide of the war.

Because, after all, military strategy is being set by conditions on the ground, not politics in Washington, right?)