"3rd, 4th quarter player" Bush falters as Rove sidelined w/ kidney stones!

[DeepModem Mom]

Living Too Much in the Bubble?
A bungled initial response to Katrina exposed the perils of a rigid, insular White House. Inside Bush's plan to show he isn't isolated
By MIKE ALLEN / WASHINGTON


....Longtime Bush watchers say they are not shocked that he missed his moment—one of his most trusted confidants calls him "a better third- and fourth-quarter player," who focuses and delivers when he sees the stakes. What surprised them was that he still appeared to be stutter-stepping in the second week of the crisis, struggling to make up for past lapses instead of taking control with a grand gesture.

Just as Katrina exposed the lurking problems of race and poverty, it also revealed the limitations of Bush's rigid, top-down approach to the presidency. "The extremely highly centralized control of the government—the engine of Bush's success—failed him this time," a key adviser said.

The missteps on Katrina came at a crucial moment in Bush's second term, when his top legislative priority at home, Social Security reform, was already on life support and the war in Iraq was becoming a mounting economic and political burden. The Administration that had been determined to defy history and ward off the second-term curse—and early lame-duck status—by controlling the agenda and seizing opportunities appears increasingly at the mercy of events, at home and abroad.

And as if the West Wing were suddenly snakebit, his franchise player, senior adviser and deputy chief of staff, Karl Rove, was on the disabled list for part of last week, working from home after being briefly hospitalized with painful kidney stones....


http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1103526,00.html?cnn=yes

[SillyGoose]

1. AHA! So that's the reason for the WH disconnect following the hurricane.

It puts everything in perspective for me. Karl's kidney stones!

[Turbineguy]

2. Kidney stones?

Wow! Those things can hurt! He should seek medical attention at the New Oeleans Convention Center without DeLay.

[Halliburton]

13. i'm sure he got a good video diagnosis from Frist

[TheCowsCameHome]

26. He should have- Frist's head is right up in there most of the time.

[Jensen]

14. LOL

:woohoo:

[spanone]

32. I was passing a stone at the same time. I would wish one on Karl.

[countingbluecars]

3. I hope they were

big and pointy.

[soleft]

4. I don't usually go here, but

Oh God, I hope they were excruciating.

[kahleefornia]

9. my dad had kidney stones

only time in my life I ever saw him cry. And he cried like a little girl. I don't think you can have non-excruciating kidney stones!

[Giant Robot]

34. The first time I had a kidney stone(am an old pro now)

I seriously thought I was going to die. I didn't know what was wrong, but I knew nothing this painful could be treatable. I made my peace with God and just prayed that my passing came swiftly. It's a funny story now for me to tell, but at the time, scary as fuck.

[Rex]

5. The engine of Bush's success?

The man has FAILED AT EVERYTHING HE HAS EVER DONE! Time should get off it's knees and try to show a little bit of that "objective journalism" no one does anymore.

[Botany]

6. I hope the pain was excruciating,

thee little wimp was probably calling for Jeff Gannon to hold his hand.

[Lochloosa]

8. Hold his....

I can't say it..

[opihimoimoi]

12. The Godess is telling them something.....

She also is tell US something...

WE GOT FOOLS IN THERE, they are supposed to take care of the 4th Estate(dats Us), good Governance, not Rule...

[Patsy Stone]

42. It's a shame it wasn't worse... n/t

[Bob3]

7. Karma's a bitch isn't it?

Seeing as Rove's been a kidney stone in the body of the republic for a long time - it seems only fitting that he gets them.

[Canuckistanian]

19. Good analogy

He's unseen, internal and capable of causing great damage and pain.
And vey hard to get rid of.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

10. This is the 3rd quarter of a two-termer presnut but he hasn't noticed yet.

[riverwalker]

11. Turdblossom's kidney stones

I can just see him straining his urine in those filters they send home with you to look for the stone. Hope that puppy is as big as a watermelon.

[opihimoimoi]

16. BOULDERS EVEN, HUGE ONES

[WiseButAngrySara]

31. Let's hope for 'STAGHORN RENAL CALCULI' The kidney stones

become so huge, that they outline the pelvic calyceal system, filling the entire collecting system of the kidney!! They are as big as you can get. He deserves greater pain though, IMO.

[Eurobabe]

36. oh that is EVIL! Staghorns!! WOOPIE!!

mine was a small round 4mm one, and I thought I would die!

Staghorns, BWAHHAHAAAAA!!!! Enjoy KKKarl....

[WiseButAngrySara]

45. It's a first for me to wish pain on another human being...but so is my

utter hatred of a current administration...First time in my life, including Nixon.

[The Icon Painter]

52. Staghorns -

Don't remind me. I had that and now have only one kidney, the other having calcified. I have the calcium form from the interior of the kidney in a box on a shelf. I hope Rove had the small ones which pass like gravel. They are much more painful. Trust me. I have had all the varieties - the little ones hurt more, especially if there are a number of them.

[Buns_of_Fire]

39. With LOTS and LOTS and LOTS of spurs on them!

I've yet to experience the pleasure (!?), but my ex- had them once. She showed me the result in the strainer after she passed one. Looked like a little itty-bitty sandspur (those from Florida will know what I'm talking about).

Another friend finally had to have a ureter put up his... never mind.

I can only hope that KKKarl's were the size of REAL sandspurs. And they only moved by fractions of a millimeter the whole time.

(Damn. There went the rest of my Karma Capital (tm) balance. And I was doing so good for a while, too. I never even wished for any fatal cases of hemorrhoids for anybody in the last several days...)

[KeepItReal]

15. When exactly was Rove out of action? Does that coincide with Bush & Co's

...messing around in Arizona and California and Crawford *before* coming back to D.C. to actually have a Cabinet Meeting on Katrina??

[Wordie]

29. ...I was wondering. The man behind the curtain was not on duty, not

there to pull the puppet's strings and everything falls apart - was that what happened? I'd laugh, but it's really not that funny.

[KeepItReal]

33. I'd heard Rove was on vacation somewhere. Didn't know he got ill

Wonder if Bush & Co. literally couldn't get their act together until Rove was back and suited up to play.

[Scout1071]

17. Now I truly cannot wait for next month when Turdy is indicted

by Patrick Fitzgerald. They will be truly expose and won't recover.

[KeepItReal]

18. The "Katrina is like 9/11" speech is on the way!

"Where's the Cathedral speech?" a friend asked in frustration a dozen days after Katrina hit, referring to Bush's address at the Washington National Cathedral on Sept. 14, 2001, when he asked "almighty God to watch over our nation and grant us patience and resolve in all that is to come."

It's coming, Bush's aides promise. And so are other big gestures.

Aides say he is waiting until demonstrable progress is being made in the recovery of bodies and the delivery of checks. The solemn address is likely to link Katrina to the challenge of 9/11, as Bush has already started doing, and deliver his plan to deal with the aftermath and his reasons for being optimistic about the future of the Gulf Coast."

Here's that one-trick pony again.

Damn.

[bluedawg12]

20. Blocked kidneys shut down ***'s brain n/t

[The Magistrate]

21. Rove In Pain....

What a pleasant thing to read on a Sunday morning.....

"LET'S GO GET THOSE BUSH BASTARDS!"

[kskiska]

22. Must be those "eggies"

D Wing at the Big House....

"His signature dish is called "eggies," a heart-stopping mix of eggs, melted butter, cheese, and bacon grease, all served with bacon and maybe Danish. The secret: whisking. "He's always there just whisking and whisking," we're told. Eggies are what lured key re-election campaign staffers to Rove's house every weekend for meetings last year. They also drew top Bushies to the White House mess recently when Rove took over the griddle.

This galloping gourmet isn't stuck on breakfast foods, either. Friends say he outdoes Marie Callender when it comes to pies. The secret here: handmade dough and no sugar; just fruit. "They're fantastic," says one of the family favorite, blueberry. "He can cook anything."...

[DeepModem Mom]

28. I forgot about the "eggies, " from that article meant to humanize Rove --

thanks, kskiska!

[callous taoboy]

23. May he shit glass and piss vinegar. Yiddish saying. n/t

[TheCowsCameHome]

24. I hope they're the size of beach balls.

[julialnyc]

25. and the majority of the P.R Team were in Greece

at a wedding

[kskiska]

27. Uh oh!

From the article:

(snip)

Bush has always said the presidency is about doing big things, and a friend who chatted with him one evening in July said he seemed to be craving a fresh mission even though the one he has pursued in Iraq is far from being on a steady footing. "He was looking for the next really important thing to do," the friend said. "You could hear him almost sorting it out to himself. He just sort of figured it would come."

[tibbiit]

30. Lets just hope his

Next big mission is how to deal with the crisis of a prison sentence.
tib

[Eurobabe]

35. Kidney stones SUCK, I wish Rove a bucketful of them!

I know I had one in 2001, and I had lithotripsy to blast it. the pain was honestly worse than having two babies natural childbirth without meds.

Obviously, KKKarl is under some stress?? Hope they are RELENTLESS!!! If anyone deserves them it's this prick and/or Cheney.

[sakabatou]

37. "the government—the engine of Bush's success—failed him"

WTF? Bush failed US! You jackasses!

[mitchum]

38. I hope the bastard is pissing blood

[radwriter0555]

40. May his kidney stones become the size of kiwis, with stalagtites for the

exterior and pure carbon for the insides, so as they're completely able to withstand all manner of easy passage and laser blasting.

I hope it takes years to pass each and every single one, and even if he has surgery to remove one, may 10 more grow in its place.

Amen.

[retread]

41. Kidney stones?? I didn't know reptiles had kidneys!

*

[KitSileya]

43. Well, I can tell you that us Norwegians are really really sorry

for having inflicted Rove on you. I guess we didn't think the US would be so gullible as to believe his machinations - I'm sure his great grandpappy fled Norway because Norwegians refusd to be manipulated. At the time, we were peacefully gaining grounds for dissolution of the union with Sweden; the start of which apparently angered Karl Rove so much he instinctively distrusted Hans Blix because of it.

(Those mean Swedes, how dare they accept Norway as a gift from Great Britain and allies for fighting against Napoleon in 1814 even tho' the Norwegians had just gained their independence from Denmark! This happened 72 years before his great grandfather emigrated, and 136 years before Karl himself was born!)

I wish him immense pain, but rather than death, I want him to face a court of law and be judged on the crimes he's comitted - no more martyrs for the neo-cons. But it is interesting to note the timing, real interesting.

[dogday]

44. I hope he had stones the size of golfballs

hurt like hell....

[texanwitch]

46. I hope the stones are the size of softballs. Hey Karl just remember what

goes around comes around.

[elehhhhna]

47. GOD I HOPE IT HURTS.

[Rose Siding]

48. Their STATED "comeback plan" is to blame Democrats!

snip>
By late last week, Administration aides were describing a three-part comeback plan. The first: Spend freely, and worry about the tab and the consequences later. "Nothing can salve the wounds like money," said an official who helped develop the strategy. "You'll see a much more aggressively engaged President, traveling to the Gulf Coast a lot and sending a lot of people down there."

The second tactic could be summed up as, Don't look back. The White House has sent delegates to meetings in Washington of outside Republican groups who have plans to blame the Democrats and state and local officials. In the meantime, it has no plans to push for a full-scale inquiry like the 9/11 commission, which Bush bitterly opposed until the pressure from Congress and surviving families made resistance futile.......

[scarletwoman]

49. Kidney stones, eh. Maybe this means the voudoun is starting to work.

I've been hoping those mambos and houngans have been doing some strong majick...

sw

[Pastiche423]

50. OMG It worked!

And it only took me 4 1/2 years of visualization.

Many moons ago, I passed some kidney stones when I was five months pregnant. Mine were teeny tiny, but boy did they HURT!

May he experience as much pain as he has caused.

Ah, it feels good to smile.

[The Icon Painter]

51. Power

I must use this power carefully. Just this morning, I was wishing permanent kidney stones on the entire Bush/Pierce clan and its enablers. Permanent kidney stones and very long lives for them all. What a lovely thought.