Lawrence Kaplan celebrates the vindication of neo-neo-conservatism in the removal of Colin Powell. Money quote:
With Condoleezza Rice at the helm–and, in all likelihood, with Undersecretary of State John Bolton as her deputy–the State Department will now be run by a team known for its rigid loyalty to the president. They, more than any other administration officials, represent authentic expressions of Bush’s foreign policy–more realistic than the Bush team’s neoconservatives but far more aggressive than its self-described “realists.” Rice, to be sure, is neither a great thinker nor a great manager. But she is a great lieutenant–that is, someone who can be relied on to convey and translate the president’s inclinations into official policy. For his part, Bolton is all of these things, plus a fierce conservative. Between the two of them, they could well transform Foggy Bottom into something that looks more like the Pentagon–only competently run.
Lawrence thinks Rumsfeld is staying on for only a little while longer – just to stick it to Powell – and that Lieberman may eventually replace him. We can dream.
THE COST OF DEMONIZATION: A powerful op-ed in the Washington Post today that does indeed lay bare the ugly dangers of the below-the-radar gay-baiting that Karl Rove unleashed in the campaign just ended. Meanwhile, Rich Lowry seems to imply that African-Americans are incapable of bigotry. Huh? I thought that was the position of the Afrocentric left.
The Dish 