if they did such a great job why is everyone leaving the bush admin?

[ElsewheresDaughter]

4 more Secretary resignations today: State Powell, Agriculture Ann Veneman, Education Ron Paige, Energy Spencer Abraham

it reminds me of the nixon admin just before his fall

[Wat_Tyler]

1. Pretty standard behaviour, though.

People always leave after an election. It's one of the few times you can leave without the press getting suspicious.

[Roxy66]

4. Yes, but there seems to be a larger number this time....

especially of high level cabinet members

[AG78]

7. But none

that actually make a difference. They'll just replace them with something just as bad, if not worse.

They want to replace Ashcroft with Gonzales. Ashcroft didn't have the balls to make torture ok. I'm sure he wanted to to. But he didn't. Our friend Al did.

When Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Feith, Cambone, Libby, Hadley, Bolton, and Gonzales(because he will be confirmed) resign, then I might be ok.

Until then, we're all a part of the Project.

[MrUnderhill]

9. Not yet.

Previous administrations have seen higher turnover at the cabinet level. (Of course, they may not be done yet).

Have you ever seen the West Wing episode right after Bartlett is reelected? They have their last cabinet meeting in front of the cameras and, when the President and press leaves, Leo thanks them for their service and tells them that he expects all of their resignations by the close of business.

Cabinet reshuffling is a standard 2nd term item... too many political paybacks are owed and the seats are needed as payback.

[uncle ray]

10. oh, i didn't realize that was real.

was this Bartlett guy a good president? will he make a run for real-life president?

[MrUnderhill]

11. He sure is preferable to watch!

I doubt he'd ever run in real life...

Who would ever vote for an ACTOR!?!?

Oh, wait.... hmmmmm.

[YNGW]

5. I agree

Cabinet changes during an administration is nothing new. In fact, that the whole group of them for the most part stayed the full four years is rather unusual.

[Thtwudbeme]

2. I would like to fantasize that these people

have a SHRED of decency.

However, my rose colored glasses have been ripped off and smashed to dust in the parking lot of democracy.

The PNAC feels that it has a mandate now, and needs to get the really nasty people in these offices...these resignations were asked for by the Bush administration.

[ArkDem]

3. It's customary to have cabinet turnover after a re-election.

[soupkitchen]

6. I guarantee you none of them is taking a pay cut

Time to line the pockets

[Garbo 2004]

8. They serve at the pleasure of the President...

Some of the resignations may have been requested. FWIW:

Nation & World
A sunny 'W' seizes the moment
Bush intends to further consolidate power at the White House
By Kenneth T. Walsh

Suddenly, the West Wing is buzzing with a new sense of possibility. Reports on the assault in Fallujah (story, Page 16) have been cautiously positive. The president's first call to Harry Reid, the new Senate Democratic leader, raised hopes that he might get more cooperation from his congressional adversaries. And the death of Yasser Arafat may provide a "new opportunity" for Middle East peace, Bush said late last week in a joint appearance with British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

The president is moving briskly to seize the moment. He is consolidating power at the White House, channeling ever more influence to Vice President Dick Cheney, his closest confidant, and counselor Karl Rove, architect of his November 2 victory. Senior White House officials tell U.S. News that Bush plans to replace at least half his cabinet over the next few months. His aim is to remove officials who have become lightning rods for controversy or who seem to have lost their desire to serve in Washington. "The president believes it's always good to have some new faces in a new term," says a senior Bush adviser.

The process has already begun. Commerce Secretary Don Evans resigned last week, and the departure of Education Secretary Rod Paige is expected to be announced this week. Most of the attention, though, focused on the resignation of Attorney General John Ashcroft. Bush quickly nominated Alberto Gonzales, his chief White House lawyer, to succeed Ashcroft. Gonzales is expected to continue tough prosecution of the war on terrorism but with a less confrontational manner. Gonzales's appointment marks the first time a Latino will have served as attorney general. The diminutive former Texas Supreme Court justice will face tough questions in the Senate Judiciary Committee but is expected to win confirmation.

Full article: http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/041122/usnews/22bush.htm

[quiet.american]

12. Sickening

"The diminutive former Texas Supreme Court justice will face tough questions in the Senate Judiciary Committee but is expected to win confirmation."

============================================================

That sentence alone is the most sickening I've recently read.

These same Senators who are champing at the bit to confirm Gonzales or just plain resigned to confirming him, are the same Senators who, pale and shaken, emerged from a screening of the Abu Ghraib images of men, women and children being raped and otherwise tortured, on the justification provided by Gonzales that the Geneva Conventions are quaint and Bush is above the law.

"Today I weep for my country."