Even though Bob Woodward has some pretty severe credibiity problems, it is never good when he writes a book unfavorable to you.
After the New York Times managed to buy an early copy of “State of Denial” and reported on it on yesterday’s front page, Bush aides frantically called Woodward and asked for copies, which he sent over. A squadron of White House aides then spent hours tearing through the book and doing quick research to try to undercut its more damaging elements. They settled on a strategy of disputing certain conclusions while broadly dismissing it as old news.
“In a lot of ways, the book is sort of like cotton candy — it kind of melts on contact,” White House spokesman Tony Snow said at a briefing dominated by the topic. “We’ve read this book before. This tends to repeat what we’ve seen in a number of other books that have been out this year where people are ventilating old disputes over troop levels.” Snow said it was well known that events in Iraq have been difficult and that officials have debated the right approach. “Rather than a state of denial,” he said, “it’s a state of the obvious.”
It’s so obvious that Donald Rumsfeld should be fired that even Laura Bush is confused.
Even first lady Laura Bush reportedly told Card that she agreed Rumsfeld had become a liability for her husband, although she noted that the president did not agree. “I don’t know why he’s not upset with this,” she told Card, according to the book. But Vice President Cheney and senior Bush adviser Karl Rove argued against dumping Rumsfeld, and Bush agreed.
It’s obvious that the keys to the ship of state should be taken away from a totally delusional Dick Cheney. He can’t get anything right. It’s also obvious that Condi Rice is a Liar.
The book also reports that then-CIA Director George J. Tenet and his counterterrorism chief, J. Cofer Black, grew so concerned in the summer of 2001 about a possible al-Qaeda attack that they drove straight to the White House to get high-level attention.
Tenet called Rice, then the national security adviser, from his car to ask to see her, in hopes that the surprise appearance would make an impression. But the meeting on July 10, 2001, left Tenet and Black frustrated and feeling brushed off, Woodward reported. Rice, they thought, did not seem to feel the same sense of urgency about the threat and was content to wait for an ongoing policy review.
I’ll have more on the significance of this July 10 date later. Suffice to say, I agree with Tony Snow. Woodward’s book is old news and merely rehashes the obvious…the obvious incompetence of the Bush administration.