1115.org

Today that someone is new White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten:

A former White House official who had talked recently with Bolten said Wednesday’s moves resulted from Bolten’s view that he needed to address three serious problems facing Bush: deteriorating press coverage, souring relations with Congress, and increasing tensions between the White House and GOP candidates. The former official asked not to be identified because of concern the White House might not appreciate his comments during a difficult time.

If Bolten really thinks that Bush’s problems are purely cosmetic, (damn librul media, scare-t-cat Republicans) things are only going to get worse for them. The press coverage and intramural squabbles are symptoms, not the disease. Rather than fixing what’s really wrong (getting us out of [or better yet winning] a failed unnecessary war, addressing the simultaneous total stagnation of wages and spike in energy prices), Bolten is wielding nothing more than a box of previously used Band-Aids in the persons of the rearranged staffers.

When you start believing your own bullshit, in this case happy talk about the war and the economy, this is exactly what happens. And when you start kicking people out of the party (I’m looking at you Scotty), they’re likely to talk about what they know.