The New Era

It looks like the new site is up and running. I'm still in Santa Fe -- went to Bandelier yesterday and I'm going to drive to Taos later today. But if you're hungry for political commentary, let me note that the timing of George Tenet's anti-administration tilt sure is odd. It was clear years if you peered deeply between the lines that Tenet personally and the CIA generally were being made scapegoats for things that were primarily the fault of folks in the White House, in the Office of the Vice President, and in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. But officially Tenet, like Powell, remained a good solider on board with the party line.

Now Tenet flips. Not before Bush's re-election, not before the midterms, not with the country still "deeply divided" about his administration, but with his approval ratings mired in the low thirties. For people who collaborated in the distasters of 2002-2004 to turn around and tell us now how terrible everything was is the political equivalent of taking cheap shots at a fighter whose already collapsed unconsious to the mat.

But not really. Really, it's just the old DC suck-up. Tenet wasn't happy with Bush before, but as long as Bush was riding high he was happy to be loyal, happy to take his medal and retire quietly. Now that Bush is weak, people want to say they had nothing to do with the whole mess. It'd be sad were it not so deadly serious.