Friday, October 21, 2005
The Death Watch
One news site which I don't see cited often enough, even (or especially) on lefty blogs, is Doug Thompson's Capital Hill Blue. A terrific example of why it ought to be on everyone's required reading list is today's rant, "Death Watch at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue."
Of course this isn't a literal death watch. Rather, it focuses on the crumbling façade of what's left of The Weasel's credibility.
Ironically, or not, the complaints themselves have all the earmarks of unattributed "information" and mere assertion but that, naturally, doesn't stop them from being flung onto the forum's wall -- whence they typically slide down to the floor, leaving in their wake a glutinous track.
Of course this isn't a literal death watch. Rather, it focuses on the crumbling façade of what's left of The Weasel's credibility.
For all practical purposes, governing the nation has stopped at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue as aides deal with an increasingly despondent President, mounting scandals and defecting dissidents from the Ship of State.Despite the piece's categorization in Thompson's "The Rant" file, it actually comes across as quite level-headed. No flaming insults, no calls for someone's head on a platter. Just straightforward reportage. (Granted, Thompson sometimes comes in for criticism on his "ReaderRant" bulletin board, for his practice of using unnamed sources. But his track record of sources is remarkable for its reliability; I haven't been reading Capitol Hill Blue since its inception, in 1994, but I don't think I've ever seen a retraction or news of a libel lawsuit.
White House insiders say George W. Bush’s mood swings have increased to the point where meetings with the President must be cancelled, schedules shifted and plans changed to keep a bitter, distracted leader from the public eye.
“He’s like a zombie some days, walking around in a trance,” says one aide who, for obvious reasons, asks not to be identified. “Other times he launches into angry outbursts, cussing out anybody who gets near him.”
Aides say gallows humor has descended on the White House, where the West Wing is now referred to as “death row” and Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove, along with Vice Presidential Chief of Staff Scooter Libby, are known as “dead men walking,” a reference to the last walk death row inmates take to the execution chamber.
[...]
“Rove’s role is diminished already,” says one White House aide. “He still meets with The President daily but all this has taken its toll. He looks terrible.”
So does White House Chief of Staff Andy Card, who has served longer in the job than anyone in modern times. Card works 16 and 17-hour days and, in the words of one Republican member of Congress, looks “completely burned out.
Ironically, or not, the complaints themselves have all the earmarks of unattributed "information" and mere assertion but that, naturally, doesn't stop them from being flung onto the forum's wall -- whence they typically slide down to the floor, leaving in their wake a glutinous track.
