Daschle’s Departure

Is the press that powerful? And what did Woodward know and when did he know it? I hope Howard Dean is not the replacement and suspect he won’t be. As for the screw-ups, the super-competent meme was bound to come down to earth at some point. I take readers’ points about the fairness of the tax questions and the flaws of vetting (although, frankly, it seems to me that the vast majority of this has been handled very well); but the more significant competence question is: will the nominees actually be competent at their jobs once confirmed? That we focus less on. Which is a problem.