Newsweek: A White House Adrift

[unhappycamper]

May 9 issue - George Voinovich is not your typical Bush loyalist. A self-styled deficit hawk, the former Cleveland mayor and Ohio governor is so frugal that he once fished a penny out of a urinal in the Statehouse. To the White House, his independent spirit should have come as no surprise: he split with his party over the estate tax in 2000 and he opposed the size of Bush's tax cuts three years later. Yet when it came to the prickly question of John Bolton's nomination as U.N. ambassador, the president's team assumed Voinovich would fall into line.

<snip>

White House aides insist they were "in constant contact" with Voinovich's office before and after the Bolton grilling, and say that even the senator's staff was surprised that he got cold feet. Whoever is to blame, the president's relationship with his own party has faltered on the high-profile nomination, as well as other priorities like Social Security. Members of Congress have long complained about the Bushies' imperial attitude. Now, some suggest the White House team—headed by a former Dick Cheney aide Candi Wolff—may be too far outside the loop of power. It takes a call from the Committee That Runs the World—Karl Rove and Cheney—to lobby Congress effectively. Last week, both were working the phones on Bolton's behalf.

Full article:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7693005/site/newsweek/

[depakid]

1. "he once fished a penny out of a urinal"

Sorry, but that's not frugal- that's sick.

Kinda like Santorum bringing home a dead fetus for his family to cuddle before burying it.

[w4rma]

4. That's why Newsweek put that in the opening statement.

It's an insult masquerading as a compliment. Newsweek is owned by AOL and Time Warner and they support Bush's agenda. Voinovich, while a Republican, is rebeling against Bush.

Notice that the tone of the article is that we should all help poor Bush pass his stalled agenda.

[LizW]

6. And he got "cold feet"

implying that he got scared, lost his nerve, turned chicken, blah, blah...

Newsweek never even considers the possibility that what Voinovich did showed courage. Going against Dear Leader, no matter what bad stuff was coming out against Bolton, is painted as cowardly.

[warrior1]

2. so is the country

[Botany]

3. He is also owned by coal ......

Watch "vonny" fight any clean air law.
A penny from the pisser?

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

5. I heard an anti-Voinovich ad on npr

which was perportedly aired in his home district. What I remembered were the words "Voinovich was disloyal to the President." Gave me a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach-and I wondered if they realized how Nazi-like that sounded.