Actually, he's worse than that, but I'm not allowed to put that in the title.
Andy Card, former Bush II White House Chief of Staff, has really broken all his own rules this time. In an interview overseas (!) with German newspaper Der Spiegel, Card was asked about his thoughts on the raid of OBL's compound culminating in the death of a world-reviled terrorist thug.
SPIEGEL: But now President Obama is the big winner…
Card: I think he has pounded his chest a little too much. He can take pride in it, but he does not need to show it so much.
Really? Referring to a sitting President, our first black President, as a gorilla? To a foreign newspaper? About a situation that the GOP once held with such patriotic fervor that any criticism of the President was verboten?
Even Der Speigel seemed surprised by this remark. After all, the President had made his announcement on Sunday night with little fanfare. He has not commented about it since. But none of this is good enough for Mr. Card, stager of "Mission Accomplished" events extraordinaire:
SPIEGEL: He didn't appear triumphant while announcing bin Laden's death.
Card: I thought his statement was subdued, but I think his schedule is not subdued. Personally, I think it is premature to go to Ground Zero, in New York. I think my role model in this would be George H. W. Bush, when the Berlin Wall came down in 1989. It was a day to celebrate, but we did not dance on the Wall.
Mr. Card, going to Ground Zero to hug the families who lost loved ones on 9/11 is hardly dancing on the grave of OBL. Going to Fort Campbell to personally thank the brave troops who trained for this mission and executed it damn near perfectly is also not dancing on the grave of OBL. And need we remind you that Bush I was NOT responsible for the fall of the Berlin Wall? Hasn't your party always credited Reagan with that one, albeit falsely? And need we remind you that the Berlin Wall is not a person, but rather a symbol of oppression to the people of Europe? They did indeed dance on that fallen wall, as they should have.
Not to mention that Mr. Card is still out there promoting torture as a credible means to get information:
SPIEGEL: Now that bin Laden is dead, debates have been reignited about whether the interrogation techniques used in Guantanamo succeeded in eliciting important clues about bin Laden's hiding place. In this case, do you think the end justifies the means?
Card: I honestly believe that waterboarding, or the enhanced interrogation techniques that we used, produced intelligence that was extremely valuable in protecting America and our allies. So I am an advocate of the president having the ability to allow enhanced techniques to be used in selective circumstances to protect America.
Andy Card has shown himself to be a jerk more than once- here are a few of his greatest hits for those of you in the mood to reminisce:
From Inside Edition:
"There should be a dress code of respect," Card tells INSIDE EDITION. "I wish that he would wear a suit coat and tie."
Card is the first member of the Bush administration to bash Obama, and he's going after him for forgoing a coat and tie.
From the Washington Post:
Andy Card, chief of staff under President George W. Bush, had me leaping out of my chair on the set of "Morning Joe" today. Several times during the interview he accused President Obama of being "arrogant." He said that Obama should get back to governing by listening to Republicans and incorporating their ideas into legislation. Um, hello?!
If you can stomach it, here's some video from the Media Matters siteshowing Mr. Card complaining about Obama failing to visit the Gulf Coast after the oil spill (not true, he was there by May 2), while simultaneously making excuses for Bush II's response to Katrina. For those of you who want to know the truth about Card's involvement in Bush's failed Katrina response, it started like this:
From Newsweek, circa 2005, How Bush Blew It:
It's a standing joke among the president's top aides: who gets to deliver the bad news? Warm and hearty in public, Bush can be cold and snappish in private, and aides sometimes cringe before the displeasure of the President of the United States, or, as he is known in West Wing jargon, POTUS. The bad news on this early morning, Tuesday, Aug. 30, some 24 hours after Hurricane Katrina had ripped through New Orleans, was that the president would have to cut short his five-week vacation by a couple of days and return to Washington. The president's chief of staff, Andrew Card; his deputy chief of staff, Joe Hagin; his counselor, Dan Bartlett, and his spokesman, Scott McClellan, held a conference call to discuss the question of the president's early return and the delicate task of telling him. Hagin, it was decided, as senior aide on the ground, would do the deed.
The president did not growl this time. He had already decided to return to Washington and hold a meeting of his top advisers on the following day, Wednesday. This would give them a day to get back from their vacations and their staffs to work up some ideas about what to do in the aftermath of the storm. President Bush knew the storm and its consequences had been bad; but he didn't quite realize how bad.
The reality, say several aides who did not wish to be quoted because it might displease the president, did not really sink in until Thursday night. Some White House staffers were watching the evening news and thought the president needed to see the horrific reports coming out of New Orleans. Counselor Bartlett made up a DVD of the newscasts so Bush could see them in their entirety as he flew down to the Gulf Coast the next morning on Air Force One.
Funny, I don't think this is the case in the Obama White House. Especially not last week.
Quit yer whinin', Card. You and your crew had your chance. Step aside and let the grownups show you how it's done- with precision, respect and authority.