Bush has purged last of his father's senior advisers..Cheney in control..

[nascarblue]

The transition to President Bush's second term, filled with backstage betrayals, plots and pathologies, would make for an excellent chapter of I, Claudius. To begin with, Bush has unceremoniously and without public acknowledgement dumped Brent Scowcroft, his father's closest associate and friend, as chairman of the foreign intelligence advisory board. The elder Bush's national security adviser was the last remnant of traditional Republican realism permitted to exist within the administration.
At the same time the vice president, Dick Cheney, has imposed his authority over secretary of state designate Condoleezza Rice, in order to blackball Arnold Kanter, former under secretary of state to James Baker and partner in the Scowcroft Group, as a candidate for deputy secretary of state.

"Words like 'incoherent' come to mind," one top state department official told me about Rice's effort to organise her office. She is unable to assert herself against Cheney, her wobbliness a sign that the state department will mostly be sidelined as a power centre for the next four years.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1380713,00.html

[Qutzupalotl]

1. Great article!

I love all this behind-the-scenes stuff.

So what's next for Powell? A tell-all memoir? A turn to the light side?

[Skidmore]

2. As long as Mikey Powell is head of the FCC,

Colin can be counted on to keep his mouth shut.

[nascarblue]

3. Unfortunately....

...because of Powell's involvement by proxy with 9-11 and the Bin Laden/Al Zarqawi boogeyman charade, I wouldn't expect too much out of him. Don't forget, when Coleman and Judith Miller played Whitehouse mouthpiece attack dogs on Kofi Annan after the election, Miller and Coleman both dropped Powell's name as possible successor. I don't think he's done in politics.

[Qutzupalotl]

4. After lying to the U.N.,

he won't get a lot of support. I guess the US can strongarm, though.

[KT2000]

5. Colin will be quiet forever

He has to consider Mikey's career for the rest of his life.
If anyone should doubt who the real Colin Powell is, one need look no farther than his son. Apples falling from the tree and all.

[The Backlash Cometh]

6. Who's your daddy?

I bet George Bush, Sr. is sorry now he took baths with his children. Boy, this daddy dearest thing is going to be a bitter pill. I can't wait!

[InvisibleBallots]

7. Scowcroft: "last remnant of traditional Republican realism"

truly terrifing.