Yesterday, the Washington Post first reported that former Bush aide-de-camp/spinmeister Dan Bartlett trashed the GOP presidential candidates. It was the first time we've seen anything resembling clarity from a Bush staffer. And, Bartlett was always one of the worst of the Bush team's liars:
One of President Bush's closest advisers has a brutally candid analysis of the Republican nomination battle: Fred Thompson is the campaign's "biggest dud," Mitt Romney has "a real problem in the South" because people will not vote for a Mormon, Mike Huckabee's last name is too hick and John McCain could end up repeating 2000 by winning New Hampshire but losing the nomination.That didn't last long. This morning, Bartlett was on the Today Show flip-flopping -- and singing the praises of those same candidates he was trashing earlier this week. Now he says "we've got a strong, deep field." Bartlett had the audacity to deny he was "back-pedaling." Bartlett learned well from George Bush that he can just say anything. So which Dan Bartlett do we believe?
Dan Bartlett, who stepped down as White House counselor in July after working nearly his entire adult life for Bush, gave those frank assessments of the Republican presidential candidates during a recent appearance before the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that went unnoticed outside the room. Never before has Bartlett opened up in a public setting with such an unvarnished analysis of the race. And while he no longer formally speaks for the president, Bartlett spent 14 years channeling Bush and remains virtually his alter ego, so his views could be seen as a revealing look into the thinking within the president's inner circle.
