Spin Dry

Capital Blue provides more on the "Bush out of control" saga that I originally wrote about here.

Worried White House aides paint a portrait of a man on the edge, increasingly wary of those who disagree with him and paranoid of a public that no longer trusts his policies in Iraq or at home.

“It reminds me of the Nixon days,” says a longtime GOP political consultant with contacts in the White House. “Everybody is an enemy; everybody is out to get him. That’s the mood over there.”

The article also puts the lie to the White House insistence that George Tenet resigned of his own free will:

The President's abrupt dismissal of CIA Directory George Tenet Wednesday night is, aides say, an example of how he works.

"Tenet wanted to quit last year but the President got his back up and wouldn't hear of it," says an aide. "That would have been the opportune time to make a change, not in the middle of an election campaign but when the director challenged the President during the meeting Wednesday, the President cut him off by saying 'that's it George. I cannot abide disloyalty. I want your resignation and I want it now."

Tenet was allowed to resign "voluntarily" and Bush informed his shocked staff of the decision Thursday morning. One aide says the President actually described the decision as "God's will."

Nah. If there were a god, a lot of lightning would be striking in DC right about now. Of course, on the bright side, if the story above is true, there is now one very pissed off ex-CIA director who knows a hell of a lot of dirt on everyone. Let's hope he rushes out that book or does lots and lots of interviews between now and the end of October...