AP Ex-aides say Bush never recovered from Katrina

[shecky]

IIRC, New Orleans didn't fare too well, either.

In any event, this is one of those non surprising pieces about the winding down of the Bush administration, with some interesting zingers.

Lawrence Wilkerson, top aide and later chief of staff to former Secretary of State Colin Powell, said that as a new president, Bush was like Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee whom critics said lacked knowledge about foreign affairs.

Ouch.

 

[davefoc]

I thought this quote from Wilkerson was interesting:

"He became vice president well before George Bush picked him," Wilkerson said of Cheney. "And he began to manipulate things from that point on, knowing that he was going to be able to convince this guy to pick him, knowing that he was then going to be able to wade into the vacuums that existed around George Bush — personality vacuum, character vacuum, details vacuum, experience vacuum."

So many people have said something similar, it is hard not to think that there is truth to it. Still just because a lot of people say something, doesn't mean that it's true. But it looks true to me.

 

[Upchurch]

"...[Cheney] was then going to be able to wade into the vacuums that existed around George Bush — personality vacuum, character vacuum, details vacuum, experience vacuum."

How devoid of character do you have to be in order for Cheney to be an improvement?

 

[dudalb]

Talk about stating the obivious: that Katrina was a turning point in the way Dubya was perceived by the American people has been painfully obvious for a long time.

 

[daredelvis]

It is surprising that there was any turning left to be done by the time Katrina came around.

"The reality in the White House is — if you look at the most senior staff — you're seeing people who aren't personally religious and have no particular affection for people who are religious-right leaders," Kuo said.

"In the political affairs shop in particular, you saw a lot of people who just rolled their eyes at ... basically every religious-right leader that was out there, because they just found them annoying and insufferable. These guys were pains in the butt who had to be accommodated."

[sarcasm]Big revelation there.[/sarcasm] For the country-club republicans, pandering to the religious right was a way to get to 50 +1. Doesn't make them any less distasteful to me, just another example of their lack of character.

Daredelvis