And speaking of pols shooting other pols...

wrote in newsq84l21iu2e9h1udmbhdot0rfpv1mku66f@
4ax.com:

Hopefully, if Gates is
the guy, he'll do a good job.

Hopefully, whoever ends up in the position will do a good job. That said,
given the situation, putting a career spook up for the civilian leadership
of the Pentagon with the current CIA role in the "questioning" of prisoners
in the national disgrace that Gitmo has become, not to mention a new
attempt at hiring one of his dad's old buddies, is a very strange thing to
do in this situation. It's almost like Bush is trying to bring things to a
head as quickly as possible, and I'm anxiously awaiting the DemocratIC
(maybe we can add the "IC" back on now!) response. My suspicion is that
the Dems will hold out the olive leaf, and seat him. Anything else might
look ungracious-- maybe Bush is taking advantage of this possible "new
honeymoon"-- but expect a rigorous hearing nonetheless.

Schwartzkopf would have been interesting. Powell would have been an
interesting choice as well, clearly conveying an attitude of national
reconciliation without actually putting a Democrat in the slot. Lieberman
would have been even more interesting, given the earlier rumors, and you
could almost envision a decision process deciding not offer him the job
last week because of his now critical Senate role.

--
Scott
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