Oh Andy youre breaking

Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Oh Andy, you’re breaking my heart.

This from Reuters

In a blow to the commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks, the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives has told the White House and fellow Republicans that he will not bring up legislation to extend its May 27 deadline, officials said on Wednesday.

President Bush’s chief of staff, Andrew Card, personally had appealed to Speaker Dennis Hastert to reconsider, and the Illinois Republican met on Wednesday with Bush at the White House.

But the speaker’s spokesman, John Feehery, said Hastert told the White House and members of the House Republican conference that “it’s a bad idea to extend the commission and … that we’re not going to bring any legislation up.”

The commission wants a 60-day extension through July 26 to complete its final report on the attacks. Despite initial objections, Bush backed the extension and the Senate is moving forward with legislation

Now, I know the president’s <$Ad$>poll numbers are falling. And I know congressional Republicans aren’t quite as eager as they were to line up behind him.

But I must say I’m genuinely surprised that the White House believes that anyone is stupid enough to believe that their fortunes have dipped so low that the House leadership tells them to go jump in a lake when they say they want something done.

(There seems to be bipartisan support for an extension in the Senate; but the more manageable House is where the White House usually goes to get this stuff done.)

Wouldn’t you have just loved to have been a fly on the wall at that brutal moment when long-time Bush family retainer and current White House Chief of Staff Andy Card begged Speaker Hastert to let the commission keep investigating the administration, and Hastert replied, “Buddy, your word just doesn’t carry the weight it used to in this town,” and then walked out the door?

I really think the folks at the White House must be out of touch with how quickly their credibility with the public and the media is falling if they think that anyone will buy this stuff.

A few days ago the president sends out his campaign manager to peddle a wholly unsubstantiated claim that the president tried to go to Vietnam, when the president himself said this wasn’t true not two weeks before.

Now, after the president had said he would get behind extending the deadline for the 9/11 commission’s report, they whip up this dingbat kabuki with Hastert to get them off the hook.

It’s like they’re losing touch.

Latest Editors' Blog
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Associate Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: