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Index
Courage and Consequence: My Life as a Conservative in the Fight
PROLOGUE
What follows is my account of the arc...
So before I get to my career in polit...
My grandparents lived in the same hou...
In Colorado, our family first lived b...
Even with all these efforts, and espe...
My father and my grandfather helped o...
But my bookishness doesn't entirely e...
Economics came on my radar screen whe...
As we settled into a modest house in ...
The debates were staged in high schoo...
The campaign I chose was that of Utah...
Wallace was angry, belligerent, and n...
There were two activities by which Ol...
But while I was finding my life's wor...
My mother's hasty moves made life a l...
I asked for more hours and found othe...
After Aunt Louise's revelation, it to...
For a long time, Louis was reticent a...
Like her mother before her in 1974, m...
I suspect she killed herself because ...
from which she never fully healed."
she'd been having an affair at the ti...
The writers who are fascinated with w...
Every life contains sorrow and regret...
The spring after joining the CRs, I g...
Her parents were nominally active Dem...
Back at the Smith headquarters all he...
I grappled with this loss while back ...
The College Republicans were then hou...
Anne and Tobin became active in the T...
Another advantage is getting to meet ...
But something else was a little more ...
. Now I could be one of them. I thoug...
.
I was staying focused on increasing t...
As the spring passed and summer came,...
The fall campaign was a blur of activ...
I learned a lot in those intense two ...
who voted for Nixon." No, Nixon's 61 ...
The third group was everyone else, a ...
From there it was on to Mississippi, ...
There were several hundred students a...
The convention opened Saturday mornin...
Bush immediately instructed the commi...
As we stood to leave, Atwater nervous...
In the meantime, there was my job and...
Less than a month later, President Fo...
We had one great advantage: the candi...
The Virginia Smith race showed me tha...
Choosing the right issues helped stre...
The next Monday, Dick Obenshain annou...
Looking around the office, I discover...
Ford's campaign in Virginia was primi...
Shortly after, I decided to make my w...
Politically, there were other changes...
Before going for the interview, thoug...
Bush hit the candidate fund-raiser ci...
I saw that party leaders influenced o...
I was happy as Bush's traveling mate,...
I hate infighting and this was one of...
In December, Val's grandmother, Alzin...
There was nothing I could do to stop ...
Our headquarters was a vacant mortuar...
I thought about Clements himself. He ...
While I was building my company, I wa...
In the end, it wasn't the fake tabloi...
But as my success grew, so did the ra...
At the time, I was working on the cam...
In campaigns, the public makes judgme...
We were entering the campaign's final...
. . . the only ones who would benefit...
The device had a regular six-volt bat...
from the movie Power, in which Richar...
about me calls into question the inte...
Ultimately, the "proof" behind the my...
Of course, these Myths of Rove that g...
I was later told that following the c...
Where should I begin to respond to th...
To be Rovian, a campaign must first b...
The fourth hallmark of a Rovian campa...
."
Of these eight hallmarks, the first f...
a new beginning, for ourselves and fo...
Issues are also ways for people to un...
So how does a campaign convey informa...
ad, which, as Schwartz explains it, "...
Another question that needs to be ans...
, too mean and without hope for a bet...
Elections are about addition, not sub...
, 58 percent of eligible voters actua...
Another group to try to entice into s...
In 1999 and early 2000, I became conv...
his support by 4 points among union m...
. They came into our neighborhoods . ...
On election night, Sibley's backers r...
As the more populous and suburban cou...
"Fair" means that most voters will th...
I once had a candidate who criticized...
Timing also plays a key role. It's ha...
Another important thing to remember i...
A Supreme Court Justice should have i...
I can't think of any candidate who wo...
journalist has written that in the 19...
is that I advise campaigns to attack ...
on their weaknesses. That usually doe...
Some people believe that politics wou...
in her war chest. And on top of it, m...
Her Christmas cards were famous. Ther...
For one thing, he had long been inter...
on their ideas before a meeting of th...
He believed education is to a state g...
of a world I had never seen," as Bush...
With education, juvenile justice, and...
In addition to consolidating fracture...
and drag her through the dirt" as if ...
Part of this was just Bush. He was, b...
In the fall of 1993, Bush road-tested...
Shortly after the meeting, Carter tol...
By early 1994, Bush began laying out ...
to monitor violent parolees and convi...
reform program in mid-February--once ...
One of these visits took place in the...
This scene was repeated across Texas ...
The Bushes are famously loyal, but th...
who somehow think they're going to be...
on the issue.
We didn't say much about her remarks ...
There were differences between us, th...
The Bush spots were focused and parti...
I was called a jerk was at Sam Housto...
for a job about their sexual preferen...
Actually, the person who made it an i...
[1990 trip], my numbers went straight...
It's frankly amazing that George W. B...
By the time Dan connected with thm" a...
The spot featured Bush talking into t...
Richards was on the attack almost fro...
" and praising her as "one of the gre...
My son, Andrew Rove, then five years ...
Bush ducked into a bathroom in his su...
I have a picture from that night, ins...
The victory over Ann Richards changed...
Bush's offer came with limitations. I...
I hunted with George W. Bush for year...
The governor-elect took time to atten...
.
--one with Amelia, his current, third...
Bush saw Bullock as a shrewd, knowled...
The three--governor, lieutenant gover...
This seemingly innocuous habit nearly...
motherf*****, aren't you?" The govern...
The Texas legislature meets only ever...
completely rewrote the state's educat...
During the early gubernatorial years,...
Bush worked hard to set a tone of col...
But occasionally I saw Bush react wit...
Bush made it clear that press leaks u...
One happened after a meeting with the...
I can't remember the day when the ide...
When he saw me, he motioned me over a...
In the meantime, it was important for...
By spring 1997, Bush's campaign prepa...
Al Hubbard was an Indiana businessman...
." But attending the event helped las...
Sharp was determined to undermine the...
I never followed up on it and they di...
Governor George Bush and feel he dese...
," which translates roughly "Together...
Bush's advertising. McKinnon had ster...
Mark not only became a close friend o...
When the time came to leave and Bush ...
, and that's George Bush. I think Geo...
In Texas, Friday night high school fo...
. We stepped up phone bank efforts to...
whether I will run for president or n...
During an earlier interview, Bush had...
, even the tiniest little slip, insig...
What finally pushed Bush to run was a...
We had been offered that deal in Dece...
We made another important decision th...
As for the second primary: the Establ...
Finally, there was the Substance Prim...
We also recognized the strategic impe...
Gore was also an excellent debater wh...
The topic I wanted to write about was...
We began our own "Front Porch" campai...
As a polite and brainy graduate of St...
surrounds himself with smart, capable...
securely in your overhead bin as they...
First stop was Cedar Rapids. The plan...
. . . that stands in stark contrast t...
a voice from the past."
" on abortion for any judicial appoin...
Not all the news was good in June, ho...
Stung by New Hampshire, Rescued by So...
Before Bush made his first campaign s...
Every campaign's core group of straw ...
Encouraged by Iowa, we continued layi...
In late January, we won the Iowa cauc...
to the wealthy, too little focused on...
On the day of the vote, I was having ...
When we assembled in his room, most o...
. It was a sign of the McCain team's ...
Others backed away from us, hoping to...
McCain had a very able team and the b...
By grabbing "his" label, we hoped to ...
."
while staging a D.C. fund-raiser host...
But before we could get traction, we ...
. Seeing this, the McCain campaign st...
leveled by your surrogate." It threw ...
We had not responded in New Hampshire...
There was no time to put Bush into a ...
McKinnon ran into more trouble at the...
Like McCain's ad, ours was simple. Bu...
or any other kind of negative adverti...
into a 5-point lead, 41 percent to 36...
to stop this now."
But McCain didn't need proof. He want...
."
The larger question is this: Does it ...
in parking-lot handouts and telephone...
The truth is, I shut down the only pu...
and womanizing." He said, "McCain cho...
." But they're wrong. The Bush campai...
the story.
In fact, after I got over the shock o...
McCain recounted the story of the Spa...
But when McCain made his claim, Bush ...
The following day, the McCain campaig...
Bush's South Carolina victory spelled...
Why? My study of previous campaigns h...
. By the time Bush used the label, it...
Beyond education, we identified issue...
The boldest move we made was to talk ...
Barbara and Tim ran a staff of about ...
Their information was compelling. Gor...
as a reporter. It was a compelling li...
is exaggeration."
, I might add--boasts on his Web site...
Immediately after securing the nomina...
Similarly, polling showed Gore much w...
Only in West Virginia did some Republ...
The Cheney Choice
Bush wanted an intensive, but invisib...
There came to be over thirty people o...
Bush had become impressed with Cheney...
The governor sat in front of the fire...
There was Cheney's residency. He had ...
Some people have suggested that Chene...
Bush was right. This decision was abo...
Cheney took a few days to think over ...
Most in the press are more fascinated...
in the Teton County clerk's office th...
Looking back, I feel bad that Danfort...
Governor Bush called Cheney at his Da...
. It was his first prime-time, nation...
, but he showed Gore something more o...
The first Gallup poll after the conve...
August was defined by Al Gore's recov...
A running mate rarely influences a co...
."
Harold Macmillan, a conservative Brit...
Unfortunately, Bush and my colleagues...
." The crowd didn't hear Bush's remar...
. That's the place where you find peo...
We got a little help. After months of...
on Fox's Special Report with Brit Hum...
.
We finally got our break in mid-Septe...
.
.
." When allies distance themselves fr...
Responding to the media frenzy over h...
This week was the general election's ...
in the press the next day. Initially,...
work on campaigns. . . . When I first...
Bush seemed ambivalent about the prep...
When it came to the real thing, I nea...
I'm not sure when everyone noticed it...
" for every student, and Ellis's scie...
." Cheney came across as well informe...
By the third debate, October 17, at W...
by 10 points. If things went accordin...
, James Byrd's daughter. On June 7, 1...
." There was little we could do excep...
We never got a chance. On Thursday, N...
. I'm not proud of that. I've often t...
Over the years, Bush had told a few c...
." His comment that Thursday was fami...
.
." Connolly was a loudmouthed buffoon...
. Fox's Carl Cameron reported that Ju...
."
Did this last-minute revelation of Bu...
It's impossible to know what those nu...
The hangar was overflowing. Despite o...
My Election Day ritual is to stay bus...
. Go figure. We could win without Flo...
At 6 P.M. Eastern, Indiana and Kentuc...
. Polls have just closed in Florida, ...
CNN was not alone. The shoddy exit po...
At 7:50 P.M. Eastern, just two minute...
The networks calling Florida for Gore...
There were twenty-four states where t...
Meanwhile, winning Clinton's home sta...
Colleagues and friends, delirious tha...
We stood there waiting for Governor B...
The former secretary of state James A...
Jeb was on the ground at the small Ta...
To their credit, the Gore people had ...
By 2:30 P.M., Allbaugh, Baker, and Ma...
). I don't think Gore's people ever s...
The actual Gore strategy was to get a...
On Election Day, these instructions w...
calls for a vote on Election Day; it ...
Later that day, the statewide machine...
In the weeks ahead, Mickey Barnett, h...
I wanted to be in Florida, but Bush h...
What also did wonders for everyone's ...
Meanwhile, America was being treated ...
It was a troubled Thanksgiving Day in...
as to whether a recount beyond the fo...
Don and I boarded a small jet bound f...
Article II was reinforced by a federa...
From my right, a small group was ushe...
Ted Olson is one of the nation's most...
Olson played off a question by Justic...
Olson then turned to the question of ...
But Klock also drew the Court's atten...
the rambunctious Florida Supreme Cour...
do so by the U.S. Supreme Court.
I was staying at the Hilton in McLean...
I dialed Governor Bush at the Mansion...
It wasn't the moment I had envisioned...
We didn't have much time. If George W...
But there was one more surprise left....
O'Neill looked great on paper--chairm...
I thought many times after that day t...
, and Condi, who'd sat in on the meet...
The president-elect pressed me for an...
As Bush's inauguration approached I h...
So when the president-elect asked me,...
Their assault failed. Bush won reelec...
We were coming to town, whether we we...
Chief of Staff Andy Card often said i...
The next day was my first full day of...
Everyone's West Wing office had a sto...
In those early months I defined my ro...
I often reminded people to put politi...
And because days were long and the pr...
" sessions, named after a Saturday Ni...
One day, Laura Bush unintentionally t...
To occupy time during the Florida rec...
. Getting off to a strong start could...
focused on tax cuts, education reform...
.
. White House staff, including Margar...
In truth, special education funding w...
Jeffords made his displeasure known a...
, Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, and...
."
, and the deal was done," Daschle wro...
Bush wasn't overjoyed by the meeting'...
on very fundamental issues: the issue...
Bush's presidency was and is largely ...
Bush critics believed he was both aga...
rates for everyone who paid income ta...
Bush's support for tax cuts was groun...
Second, Bush knew that while governme...
earning $40,000 per year or less rece...
alone is bigger than the entire Japan...
." In fact, the main causes for defic...
Democratic budget called for $694.3 b...
ON EDUCATION, BUSH'S CORE insight was...
among African-American and Hispanic c...
for every category of learner.
elevates reading and math to the excl...
federal outlays on elementary and sec...
during his 2000 presidential campaign...
against religious institutions, simpl...
.
The criticism always struck me as odd...
: the Bush administration prevailed i...
of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and w...
the faith-based initiative and the Wh...
BUSH LEFT OFFICE WITH the reputation ...
.
offering a wide spectrum of views and...
."
Bush wanted a dramatically different ...
to climate change technology, researc...
had committed the world to a new appr...
doubled the number of grants to clean...
In early February 2001, eighty Nobel ...
In the course of exploring the issue,...
--to have views similar to Kass's, th...
A few weeks later, Bush made up his m...
SOME ON THE RIGHT argue that by putti...
Where was conservatism headed before ...
What the GOP specifically and the con...
Wherever a president has an event, th...
As chief of staff, Andy Card sat in o...
After whispering the news of the seco...
" in the "apparent terrorist attack o...
do staff members and the press, guest...
Andy Card huddled with Eddie Marinzel...
By now, too many people were coming i...
Major Gould and others recommended fl...
The deaths of that morning had been o...
in the history of the United States. ...
The president was concerned about his...
When Bush came down the stairs of Air...
After a few minutes of shuttling betw...
The tension between these two competi...
Bush's remarks at Barksdale came acro...
This time, agents from the Secret Ser...
I now came to understand that there i...
Most of the "fog" was simply the resu...
But even in that day's fog, there wer...
There was one outstanding question. H...
Bush asked for prayers to "those who ...
The first charge was so logical that ...
After the address, President Bush lef...
I trudged up the staircase to Darby a...
At the 7:30 A.M. senior staff meeting...
Susan and Izzy made their way with ot...
Needless to say, the idea that your w...
At 9:30 A.M., the president started a...
I spent the tail end of this long day...
I left the White House just before mi...
right now. I think about the families...
As we made our way in, I saw Al and T...
Darby and I took our seats on the lef...
their murderers . . . men and women w...
There were still grave concerns about...
The remnants of Tuesday's violence we...
, but I asked her if there was a micr...
Right next to me was a giant wrecked ...
."
and he climbed down.
By now, it was 4:45 P.M. and we were ...
As we drove north from Ground Zero, t...
Finally, it was time for a shift chan...
For most Americans, 9/11 was horrifyi...
A nine- or ten-year-old blond boy was...
Finally, at 7:58 P.M., an hour and fo...
At McGuire, we separated. In the deca...
That night, I sat in my darkened stud...
you were on TV?" A quiet man, Bob cha...
It was a new kind of war, the dimensi...
But even as the house stood, the Tali...
From the outset, Bush understood that...
We were entering a global and often c...
The president also tried to prepare t...
The following day, the sand had run o...
Within these scenes we saw outlines o...
Bush needed to prepare the nation for...
Unlike World War II, there would be n...
, writing, "After 9/11, Americans wer...
Bush did exactly what his critics lat...
for all to see.
IN THE WAKE OF 9/11, Bush was determi...
Much of the work had to do with updat...
Above all, he made investigating terr...
.
in early 2002 to deny al Qaeda and Ta...
To those who have good-faith concerns...
But the president never authorized to...
in this country that are alive today ...
None of these theories is true. The r...
Iraqi civilians. He had supported ter...
In the wake of 9/11, these actions ma...
--formed in the 1990s--that held Sadd...
, either these weapons must be dislod...
what the parallel circumstances may b...
For once, I agreed with Biden, Pelosi...
is a threat to the authority of the U...
that he had set the vote for before t...
that Daschle asked Bush to delay the ...
than the one that authorized the Pers...
frhad d ty from having personally rev...
," the president began in an Oval Off...
Bush's hope, our hope, was that Iraq ...
" on whether the government should do...
I watched Bush engage with Gephardt f...
." It was then that I knew the Democr...
A few weeks later, the same kind of D...
Congresswoman Ellen Tauscher of Calif...
We all knew Congressman Adam Smith of...
: he believed TPA was a power any pre...
THE WAY DEMOCRATS APPROACHED trade wa...
I hadn't been enthusiastic about Pick...
, [White House Counsel] Judge [Albert...
" for his nomination to the U.S. Cour...
. . . that all nominees get hearings ...
to the nation on June 6, 2002, that h...
President John F. Kennedy issued an e...
It made no sense to insist on collect...
The issue tied up the bill for the la...
One of those campaign debates about h...
" and responsible for "the biggest li...
, create, craft, prepare, or have any...
a reply ad while driving home to Tenn...
In the years since, Cleland has worke...
, didn't win the endorsement of the V...
Bush himself campaigned for Chambliss...
I devised an aggressive campaign to f...
Those were the rewarding moments of b...
a state Senate district that overlapp...
But our efforts paid off on election ...
But the afterglow of our success evap...
What? Lott had just said he was proud...
when he and I go to the microphone an...
, you're getting carried away at a ce...
Lott then went on Black Entertainment...
I must admit that when I arranged for...
I thought it would get much worse and...
and meeting with dozens of people," W...
Now, fully awake after reading the op...
[the president's] own staff," perhaps...
," as CIA director George Tenet put i...
Inside the White House, we were conce...
During the 7:30 A.M. White House seni...
Hadley was deputized to talk to Georg...
that would dissuade us from the presi...
, the reference to Iraq's attempt to ...
from Air Force One.
officials' on Air Force One who conti...
Joe Wilson was wrong when he implied ...
." Mayaki had interpreted this as mea...
in the United States.
, Vice-President or other senior Admi...
Wilson was wrong when he later said t...
in the report [by Wilson] of forged d...
, Mr. Wilson was asked how he knew so...
, dumped his unfinished plate in the ...
." That was just like Powell.
Hadley drafted a statement that ackno...
Bush agreed to Hadley's making a stat...
at the time of the State of the Union...
was forever changed." Tenet felt betr...
On Monday, July 7, the day after Wils...
, and she suggested that he be sent t...
to him in her defense appeared in his...
I told Novak the CIA was going to be ...
both David Gregory of NBC News and Jo...
I was aiming to take advantage of the...
That morning I received details of No...
There was no need to rev Cooper up on...
Richard Armitage was the first senior...
to misleading information." Congressw...
Five Democrats had opened up on us on...
The comments of key Democrats show wh...
is related to the death of the U.S. a...
intentions and his possession and ong...
of what I think to be compelling evid...
." No one chastened Gore for question...
of mass destruction has proven imposs...
, and others. Their language was at l...
or the world with nuclear arms, poiso...
who voted for the use-of-force resolu...
" that was actually more advanced tha...
" that Iraq's stocks of deadly anthra...
not to assume that [Saddam] is develo...
against the Iranian military during t...
in 2002 that Iraq would have nuclear ...
an ambiguous impression about possess...
and intentions to continue to acquire...
Iraq's WMD capability--which was esse...
of WMD-related program activities and...
, in 1991, the IAEA was just days awa...
at the time, said the same thing.
In his book Plan of Attack, Bob Woodw...
that he [Powell] changed his mind. He...
In addition to all that, Bush believe...
So who was responsible for the failur...
The opposite happened. Our critics po...
The charge did what its critics had h...
I had been invited by Dr. Martin Ande...
The Bohemian Club was founded in 1872...
about how Wilson collected his inform...
or is it fair game to try to find out...
and make determinations about whether...
--a substitute--for "senior administr...
Calls for an investigation increased,...
an allegation that administration off...
" and the leaks were "wrong and a hug...
Novak was telegraphing to the world t...
He has a calming manner, never gets r...
As a 1972 graduate of Harvard, a Rhod...
Eckenrode was interested in why Wilso...
It was the strangest sensation when t...
Eckenrode showed me a memo from the S...
I told him that was an extreme statem...
Shortly afterward, I was subpoenaed t...
Each session (except my last) was fil...
The prosecutor asked me to review the...
So I had picked up the phone and call...
. I hadn't been Novak's source. It wa...
It was a grueling pair of days. At ti...
The spring and summer of 2004 were qu...
.
I didn't think any of this had anythi...
I had told the grand jury in February...
It was as if I'd detonated a bomb in ...
When we went back into the grand jury...
Excused after eight and a half hours,...
I sat in the living room of Bush's Cr...
I recommended Ken Mehlman be made cam...
Ken Mehlman, Mark McKinnon, Matthew D...
." I thought that if we showed Bush t...
, and while growth picked up in 2003 ...
of the electorate in 1984 to 7 percen...
The campaign put an enormous emphasis...
At one point, a county campaign chair...
By now, the number of meetings was ma...
I worried most about Senator John Edw...
Joe Lieberman, however, was a man for...
The early favorite among Democrats wa...
When I saw the tape of his appearance...
John Kerry had the strongest campaign...
during all of my life." His candidacy...
paid more than half of all prescripti...
But creating one was not a universall...
Before that could happen, we needed t...
The vote in the House on the night of...
. The Republicans were right to do so...
.
in Massachusetts, New Jersey, Indiana...
.
defending the institution of marriage...
Neither Bush nor I regret his stand o...
to 86 percent.
are missing is that 'moral issues' ar...
But the Massachusetts Supreme Judicia...
Of course, I played absolutely no rol...
, an alliance of left-wing community ...
I called the Secret Service and the D...
In a campaign, you have to be equally...
"--replaced all the other ones the Bu...
The ad presented several problems for...
Then Kerry gave us the line that perf...
By themselves, Kerry's thirteen words...
by opposing increased military spendi...
. My impression was that Powell was a...
For me, the lighthearted moment outsi...
that he had discussed becoming John K...
I'd meet with Weaver, but wanted Mark...
In their first appearance together, P...
to our men and women in uniform by a ...
--in the sense that I don't believe t...
for the authority. I believe it was t...
The two men joined hands and raised t...
We had a midday event in Niceville an...
The next morning, while the president...
By the summer of 2004, I believed tha...
The president's approval rating had t...
, especially in a crisis."
. But I knew Bush's lead wouldn't last.
the president would pull such a cheap...
On August 20, the stakes increased dr...
. The charge was ludicrous and ineffe...
Even so, I still have indigestion abo...
.
, Ben Barnes, was forced to admit he ...
.
, to speak for him. (I'd helped defea...
. Rather said he still believed the m...
, the master of dirty tricks and surr...
Almost two weeks were devoted to the ...
Bush did well enough on substance, bu...
channeling Karl Rove in his first deb...
. My answer is, we're not going to sp...
and say anything to get elected."
of Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Iow...
In truth, you can't possibly know any...
I was sick to my stomach. We didn't h...
When I arrived in the West Wing, a fo...
The calls were not encouraging. Every...
When the polls closed in Florida, I d...
Shortly after I'd returned from the R...
As the evening wore on, I swam in a r...
At 1:20 A.M., Senator Pete Domenici c...
I spent the next two hours, from 1:30...
At 3:30 A.M., the Associated Press ca...
Around 5:30 A.M., I decided I needed ...
Don't tell me the stupid exit polls d...
Presidential second terms are general...
One of the first decisions we faced c...
$2.4 trillion in loans from Social Se...
Moynihan was an inspired choice. His ...
Then came 9/11. All of Congress's ene...
" and said it meant a "guaranteed ben...
Bush wasn't willing to leave the issu...
But the presidential barnstorming did...
. But it did nothing to change the si...
Senate Finance Committee chairman Chu...
In retrospect, it was a mistake to le...
decline in housing values could wipe ...
Our bill would have subjected Fannie ...
borrow money more cheaply than compet...
In January 2003 our concern grew when...
, high-priced Republican and Democrat...
with the bathwater."
."
When Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae colla...
of campaign gifts from Fannie and Fre...
Bush's energy bill made an unpreceden...
The bill diversified America's energy...
All our hard work to reduce domestic ...
" and accusing the president of lying...
, they had lost Senate and House seat...
Reid got right to the point. The batt...
. That wasn't popular with social con...
The White House didn't accept Reid's ...
I'd been primarily put in the group a...
There were almost a dozen names on th...
I asked which former Supreme Court ju...
Roberts had three meetings with New Y...
Meanwhile, our Supreme Court nominati...
But what made sense to us didn't to o...
My antennae should have been sharper....
[ed] experience." Democrats then pile...
Harriet could see she would get appro...
," sexist, corrupt, and a racist. It ...
Anything for a Scalp
By the summer of 2005, the Wilson-Pla...
rather than give up his sources.
Only there weren't any confidential s...
Luskin told Sauber he wasn't going to...
Meanwhile, all I could do was work as...
Late in the summer and into the fall,...
By now, Luskin was drowning in press ...
That feeling was confirmed a few days...
As it turned out, Fitzgerald was a bi...
Luskin was unruffled and in complete ...
Fitzgerald allowed these were persuas...
Bob called me at the White House with...
At the same time, anger jostled with ...
Luskin had told me many times that Pa...
In any event, I thanked Luskin profus...
By Thursday, October 27, Fitzgerald h...
of what had happened to Ms. Plame, sp...
The three showed up again on Hallowee...
, the Onion tabloid published a parod...
On the way into the courthouse for my...
Luskin and I rode down in a courthous...
, do not bet on Karl Rove getting out...
of harmful parasites, which is more t...
Luskin reached me on the phone as I s...
My ordeal was at long last over. But ...
" Joe Wilson. The Post also noted tha...
Powell had an odd reaction to the who...
I ran into Armitage two years later i...
Luskin, who says he never stepped as ...
The president was speaking in a Situa...
, Katrina had killed more than 1,700 ...
to go to sleep knowing I had done eve...
in New Orleans would have been out of...
the Louisianans were. This led Cherto...
As Bush returned to Washington on Wed...
In a sign of how bad things were, tho...
As events unfolded, it became clear t...
For example, when Blanco called the W...
out of the sky," she later admitted. ...
It seemed her big concern was public ...
in 1994, knowing the response was bey...
in American history.
We flew into Mobile at 10:30 A.M. to ...
I wandered the streets as the preside...
a heck of a job!" comment about FEMA ...
Our helicopters arrived at the last s...
had been there before it was shut dow...
The president tried to get a situatio...
It became clear that four days into t...
. Honore would report to Blanco in hi...
moved toward New Orleans on Thursday.
Even then, we were fearful of an inci...
on every one of the thirteen event-pa...
We flew into Mississippi and were met...
I was sandwiched between the best and...
of eleven counts of bribery, racketee...
After the lunch finally drew to a clo...
, the senator's brother.
Our second big mistake was flying ove...
).
fails to meet such an obligation, I, ...
They voted out a corrupt congressman ...
Two thousand and six started witho th...
The Secret Service immediately notifi...
I thought the vice president's office...
The incident taught me the VP could b...
But the shooting incident, as bad as ...
" shape. Articulate and courageous ca...
We knew the president and his party w...
. Shortly after his sentencing, his o...
their association with Abramoff cost ...
.
but denied he choked her, which she h...
, investigating her dealings with a s...
Some analysts blamed the election on ...
deployed their party's few remaining ...
I appreciated President Clinton's kin...
Bush also ended "catch and release," ...
But these weren't enough. There neede...
But I saw how difficult the battle wo...
But prodded by Senator Ted Kennedy an...
The Senate had been on the edge of pa...
of dollars, hurt our economy by depri...
In December 2006, George W. Bush made...
" in the Arab Middle East, declaring,...
about Iraq," said Walid Jumblatt, the...
Our optimism about the promise of Ira...
But political progress wasn't produci...
." He felt America could be driven fr...
" and "with the deployment of [Iraqi]...
The Iraqi army and police were too of...
On February 22, 2006, al-Qaeda made i...
the house he was hiding in with two f...
, declared in November 2005 that the ...
I also got the sense from talking wit...
I also helped manage the tempo and pa...
Bush's strategy was not driven by pol...
I didn't pretend to be Carl von Claus...
The "surge" was a bad name for the ne...
During the strategy review, General P...
of U.S. forces in Iraq should evolve ...
To counter this, we emphasized the re...
We wanted to announce our plan in Dec...
; it won't provide security . . . it ...
Pete Wehner, director of the Office o...
in chief to move ahead with the deplo...
But Warner was really signaling that ...
to announce plans for a far more narr...
The final batch of extra troops arriv...
at war with the facts" and argued "th...
or the Pulitzer for fiction."
of the strong centrifugal forces in I...
By March 2008, Prime Minister Nouri a...
National Economic Council director Al...
My suite came with antique furniture,...
At that moment, the Centre Room doors...
There were moments in the White House...
" and implied it was an exorcism. The...
That's how I handled the annual press...
The dinners are usually held in the W...
The thin, severe woman at the next ta...
sea level, professional sports could ...
Ms. David now began a slow retreat, e...
As the official entertainment, Sherwo...
So there I was, flailing around and l...
At one point, I took out my cell phon...
Talk show hosts had a field day with ...
I first started thinking about leavin...
I knew I would miss the work and my c...
I was changing, too, and I knew it. I...
In the meantime, I focused even more ...
. I was the last Democratic state rep...
After the president's speech to eight...
We walked into one of the meetings to...
I was startled. It was the last thing...
On Wednesday, I got back to serious w...
As the time to depart for the airport...
We made it in time to catch our fligh...
Then I realized I'd made a mistake. I...
Several weeks later, I got a note fro...
Bill Krissoff was commissioned Novemb...
I have tried to keep up with Bill and...
I may have left the White House stage...
begun in 1999, a fact known when he r...
in prison.
.
One of the nation's least reliable pa...
."
about having met me, having worked wi...
being involved." But of course I had.
of conspiracy buffs. Democrats accuse...
I did pass on three complaints about ...
the Clinton White House, where politi...
on Rove. Someone's got to kick his as...
the Judiciary Committee wanted, but i...
I almost felt sorry for my chief inte...
I especially enjoyed watching a formi...
I also believe, quite immodestly, tha...
There are many reasons for his sharp ...
, my deputy Barry Jackson asked, "Did...
While I readily admit to believing an...
That afternoon, I walked down to the ...
My feistiness, however, got the best ...
, a politics that focused not just on...
That is not the full story. At its he...
But others find themselves forced to ...
The 9/11 attacks were part of a broad...
Atop a crushed fire truck, amidst the...
His critical insight was that Western...
He placed the same simple idea--that ...
He showed how competition and transpa...
He also fought to create health savin...
To augment private charitable efforts...
There is a natural tension in politic...
I have long admired America's leaders...
History will render its verdict on hi...
"At House Democratic Meeting, Obama R...
Many thanks to my agent, Robert B. Ba...
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