As Rove Departs, President Again Turns to Gillespie

[deminks]

Our White House has a rodent problem. One rat leaves and another scurries in.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/15/AR2007081502155.html

CRAWFORD, Tex., Aug. 15 -- When George W. Bush needed a communications adviser during the 2000 Florida recount, which determined whether he would be president, he turned to Ed Gillespie. When Bush needed someone to shepherd two of his Supreme Court nominees, he again called on Gillespie. And when longtime confidant and counselor Dan Bartlett stepped down this summer, Bush brought Gillespie to the White House.

Now, with the departure of Karl Rove, the president's closest adviser, Gillespie, 46, a former lobbyist and Republican National Committee chairman, has once again been asked to help fill the void.

White House Chief of Staff Joshua B. Bolten has said that he plans to divide Rove's broad political and policymaking duties -- and the 60 or so White House staffers who report to him -- among several top aides. But Bolten has yet to decide how to distribute Rove's responsibilities.

Still, it appears that Gillespie will emerge as the first among equals. He is likely to be called on to handle political strategy and message management for the president, becoming the dominant voice in determining where and how often Bush appears and what he says during the final 17 months of his tenure.

(end snip)

Sorry if this has been posted before. It's a couple of days old, but I didn't find it posted.

[SpiralHawk]

1. Gillespie: another republicon chickenhawk

There is no end of republicon chickenhawks, and Commander AWOL sure do love them.

No wonder the Oil Crusade in Iraq is such a fiasco, with these clowns running the military.

My heart goes out to our sons and daughters in uniform who have to follow these
PATHETIC REPUBLICON CHICKENHAWKS into a phony oil profits war.

REPUBLICON WAR BIRD:

[saltpoint]

2. Bolten on one hand has a thankless task.

On the other, what kind of person takes on a thankless task in the first place?

We can guess that he's at least halfway sentient and KNOWS he's working with people who are subverting Constitutional liberties, or we can guess that he's NOT all that discerning and doesn't know how to make those kinds of distinctions.

Or, that he KNOWS and doesn't give a hoot.

Any way you add it up, Bolten is a failure serving a failed administration for no apparent good reason.

[skiddlybop]

3. Great.

The GOP gay mafia strikes again.

[saltpoint]

4. Bolten is gay? Jesus, where have I been? I had no idea.

[WCGreen]

5. I met Ed Gillespie at a campaign forum back in 1993...

He was a punk back then and he still is a punk today...

[saltpoint]

6. Sounds right to me. If he were as effective a strategist (in Bush's eyes) as Rove

he'd already have held Rove's position.

Dubya is down to the last few cronies there in the White House.

It's gittin kinda lonesome.

It's hard out there for a chimp.