Newsweek on Andy Card (basically "did he jump or was he pushed")

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

Loyal to the End
Andy Card was devoted to his president. But in the end, the failure of Bush’s agenda on Capitol Hill was his undoing.

By Richard Wolffe and Holly Bailey
Newsweek
Updated: 2:49 p.m. ET March 28, 2006



http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12052687/site/newsweek/

March 28, 2006 - Now the question is whether Card wanted to quit his job or whether he needed to. The White House announced Card’s resignation on Tuesday and his replacement, budget director Joshua Bolten. Card first offered his resignation three weeks ago, according to the White House. That was just after the first polls showed just how much the White House was bleeding support after the Dubai ports story. A CBS poll gave Bush a job approval rating of only 34 percent and a personal favorability rating of 29 percent. (NEWSWEEK’s poll later showed the president with a 36-percent approval rating.) Bush won some respite from the ports storm when he traveled to Afghanistan, India and Pakistan. But within days of his return, he suffered another defeat in the House on the ports deal. One day later, the finely crafted compromise between the White House and the United Arab Emirates collapsed and the Dubai company agreed to sell its new U.S. operations. That was the day Card offered to quit.

It’s unfair to lay the blame for the ports debacle solely at Card’s door. But it’s also important to understand the context of his offer to quit and Bush’s mulling over whether to accept. Card was more than the man who controlled access to the Oval Office. He was one of the two chief lobbyists for the White House on Capitol Hill--the other being Vice President Dick Cheney. And nothing encapsulated Bush’s loss of control in Congress like the ports takeover.

Cheney and Card were originally brought into Bush’s inner circle in 2000 to fill the biggest gap in Austin: insider knowledge of Washington. Since then, they have both played the role of Bush’s ambassador to Congress--pushing the president’s agenda in good times, and soaking up criticism in bad times.

Card got more than his fair share of criticism in the rocky course of the last year. His soft-spoken and affable style made him a much easier target for sniping members of Congress than the brooding, intimidating presence of Dick Cheney. It was Card who took the full brunt of attack in person from GOP leaders at their retreat at a luxury resort overlooking the Chesapeake Bay in early December. House Speaker Dennis Hastert ripped Card and presidential counselor Dan Bartlett for poor communications with the troops on the Hill, according to Congressional Republicans in attendance. Hastert said the White House had “blown it” with Congress after a year of failed Social Security reform, Hurricane Katrina and the doomed Harriet Miers pick.

[Warpy]

1. Hell, I think he JUMPED

He took a look at where those numbers are headed and thought he oughta get out while he still can and qualify for a job as a lobbyist.

Rove is the strategist, not Card. Card knew he'd be blamed, eventually, and got out while the getting was good.

[Roon]

2. So it wasn't pending indictments that made him quit

I should have known :eyes:

[rpannier]

3. Little from column A and a little from column B

He probably jumped before he was pushed. Kind of like walking the plank.