The Washington Post has posted excerpts from Bob Woodward's new book. I found the whole article another devastating indictment of this administration. I think the administration's whole strategy is summed up best by Sec. Rumsfeld's reported comment to Jay Garner just weeks into the war:
Rumsfeld looked at Garner for a moment with his take-no-prisoners gaze. "Well," he said, "I don't think there is anything we can do, because we are where we are."
I guess this is the birth of "Stay the Course."
Then there is this quote from Stephen Hadley, the current National Security Advisor, about his thoughts on Bush's first term:
"I give us a B-minus for policy development," he told a colleague on Feb. 5, 2005, "and a D-minus for policy execution."I think it is fair to say that their grade for the second term shows no improvement. It is time to Drop this Course.
If this whole Woodward story is not bad enough for the GOP, there is a sad follow-up story about the who knew what when about Foley's e-mails. The story ends with this assessment from a Republican operative:
Rich Galen, a Republican political strategist, worried that voters might lump Foley's name with former representatives Robert W. Ney (R-Ohio), Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) and Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-Calif.), all of whom were forced to resign or were indicted amid various scandals this year.
"This sense of entitlement that members of Congress can do anything to anyone or for anyone has got to end," Galen said.
