jon carroll, talking about the bush administration.

sometimes jon carroll writes about his daughters or his cats; sometimes he writes about politics. he's brilliant at both.

JON CARROLL

He says he reads the front pages -- according to reliable reports, he does not actually read the front pages, but let's call it a metaphor -- and he knows what people are saying, and he's the decider: Rumsfeld stays.

Meanwhile, the administration has spent a week putting out the fire-Rumsfeld fires, almost as though it had nothing else to do. This administration used to understand how to control the news cycle, but it can't do that anymore. It has to play the chat show game. Last week, it sent representatives scurrying to dismiss reports that it planned to bomb Iran as 'wild speculation' -- not untrue, mind you, just not proved. This week it's devoting its resources to protecting Donald Rumsfeld.

This would all be gratifying in a 'see Spot run scared' sort of way, were it not for the reality on the ground, the deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan, the obstructionism in the United Nations, the poisoned waters and the hungry children and the despairing immigrants, all put on hold by George 'The Decider' Bush.