‘They need a renovation, not just a new front door’

March 29, 2006

The clamoring in Washington for a change at the White House has, oddly enough, not come from Dems. By and large, most Dems on the Hill don’t particularly care who’s running Bush’s White House; they’re more concerned with the guy in the Oval Office. The unsolicited advice for the president has come from Republicans, who’ve made little effort the past couple of months to hide their disappointment with the [tag]White House staff[/tag].

With this in mind, the right’s reaction to [tag]Andy Card[/tag]’s resignation was bound to be more interesting than the left’s. Would it satisfy the calls for a staff shake-up? Are Republicans on the Hill happy now that the Chief of Staff who wouldn’t return their phone calls has stepped aside? At this point, it seems the Card-to-[tag]Bolten[/tag] transition is not what most of the GOP had in mind.

“Josh is a good guy — just not what this White House needs. They need a renovation, not just a new front door,” said a senior Republican who served in top positions in President Reagan’s White House and spoke on condition of anonymity because he continues to deal with the Bush White House.

“They need people who can give the president honest appraisals, and not just the same group that has gotten him in trouble in the second term,” he said.

Roll Call had a detailed report today reflecting widespread disappointment among Republicans in DC. They seemed pleased that Card is leaving, but they’re dissatisfied with his replacement and wanted a more sweeping change.

“This is not a change — this is just Josh Bolten moving from the OMB to chief of staff,” Sen. [tag]Trent Lott[/tag] (R-Miss.) said, later adding, “They still need men and women of stature and gravitas in a number of slots there at the White House. They need experienced people to give them a hand … I do think they need more disparate voices in there.” […]

One senior GOP Senate staffer said more shakeups are a must to ensure the political health of the administration and the party, saying: “I think they’ve hit rock bottom.” This aide said Card’s departure is a mixed blessing: “The good thing is new ideas and a burst of energy is really needed. The bad is that it’s more of the same. It’s not someone new coming in. … Let’s just hope there will be more [changes], for all our sake.”

Another Republican staffer was more specific, saying, “It would send a strong signal if [tag]John Bolten[/tag]’s first move is to is clean out the press operation starting with Dan Bartlett.”

I think we can safely characterize the Republican response to yesterday’s announcement as “not impressed.”

then there is:
_______

Card’s Departure Seen as a Sign President Hears Words of Critics

By Jim VandeHei
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 29, 2006; Page A01

A few weeks ago, President Bush’s spokesman dismissed talk of an impending staff change as “inside Washington babble.”

White House Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card Jr.’s resignation yesterday suggests that Bush was listening.

———–

yeesh….

  • For the Bush White House, it’s extremely easy to see that they’re at the bottom of the barrel. The problem is, however, that it’s a wooden barrel—and they’ve got an axe, to chop through and go even deper than the barrel’s bottom. Card’s leaving is synonymous to the chop-chop-chopping sound of that axe, hard at work.

    Bolton? “Turn-the-Deficit-into-a-Train-Wreck” Bolton? “Outspend-the-Democrats-Like-There’s-No-Tomorrow” Bolton? “Piggy-Bank-Breaker” Bolton? I don’t know whether to laugh, or to cry….

  • The always tone deaf Rethugs and the Demolisher-in-Chief may change the voices doing the singing in their choir, but they are always using the same hymnal/playbook. I’m not very good at Latin, but the fight song for these Lying.Fucking.Bastards seems to be a play on Caeser’s words: “We came; we saw; we destroyed.”

    Contrary to that “Senoir Republican” — anonymous as always, the chickenshit — this White House needs more than a new “front door;” it needs even more than a “renovation;” it needs an eviction of the squatter there and then a thorough and complete fumigation after all of the garbage and trash have been finally removed.

    It is time to restore honor and trust to the White House. That cannot even begin to occur until these LFBs have been booted out and imprisoned.

  • “They need people who can give the president honest appraisals, and not just the same group that has gotten him in trouble in the second term,”

    This is an absolutely stunning statement in that it shows the complete lack of understanding of our nation’s current situation. The “same group that has gotten him in trouble” are the collection of win-at-any-cost political advisors who think that policy is a minor and toxic side effect of running the country. They don’t care about governing, they care about ruling.

  • We know from watching the Bush getting briefed on Katrina video, that he’s a hands off kinda guy. That first Andy… and now Josh.. are the operational Presidents of the United States.. while Dick and Karl are the feuding to be the behind the scenes emperor of the operator. The real business of being president is too much thinkin’ and wurkin’ hard ..so it is left to the hidden officials.

    All this to say that Josh and friends are the defacto leaders of the Free World. George Bush is the front door facade of the White House.

  • I’m with yam.

    “They need people who can give the president honest appraisals, and not just the same group that has gotten him in trouble in the second term,” he said.

    Bush and Rover (and Bush will never be without Rover) would never, ever tolerate someone who give honest appraisals because honest appraisals will often run contraty to administration desires/assumptions and are a sign of disloyalty to the pResident.

  • Ah, the poor Republicanites in Congress, trying to distract us from their woes and failures by a shakeup in the White House.

    Really, I can’t imagine any Conservative Republican (note the lack of dimminuating suffix) of Stature (CRoS) who would sully himself/herself by joining this administration. James Baker has already sold his soul to the devil to get Bush ‘elected’ in 2000. No other CRoS is going down that road for George Herbert Walker’s boy.

    W. is just too much to bear for any CRoS!

  • Nice Freudian slip in that ROLL CALL quote from a “Republican staffer”, in which he gets his Boltens mixed and calls Josh “John Bolten.”

    Let’s see Bush move JOHN Bolton over from the U.N. to the White House. THAT would be a change. The train wreck would be complete.

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