If this LA Times article on Karl Rove's comments to James Dobson is true, the so-called Gang of 14 has more to answer for. One of the things about any serious conflict is that there are always those who try to short-circuit it before resolution. It is often a mistake (see Compromise of 1850), simply allowing the wound to fester and the tension to escalate.
In that conversation, which has been the subject of feverish speculation, Rove also told Dobson that one reason the president was passing over better-known conservatives was that many on the White House short list had asked not to be considered, Dobson said, according to an advance transcript of the broadcast provided by his organization, Focus on the Family.The only good thing about this pin not being pulled is that it could have been done now, after the Democrats filibustered someone like Janice Rogers Brown on national television. It's one thing to knife people in the back, as one can do while the NY Times looks the other way. It's quite another to do in prime time to an up-from-poverty black woman. I'd be surprised if Brown backed down from this fight.Dobson said that the White House had decided to nominate a woman, which reduced the size of the list, and that several women on it had then bowed out.
"What Karl told me is that some of those individuals took themselves off that list and they would not allow their names to be considered, because the process has become so vicious and so vitriolic and so bitter that they didn't want to subject themselves or the members of their families to it," Dobson said, according to the transcript.
In fact, I'd be a bit surprised if anyone did: this smells like damage control to me.
Posted by Kevin Murphy at October 12, 2005 10:14 AM