Andy Card 'steps down'

[Preechr]

The chief of staff would be the highest possible subordinate ultimately responsible for executive decisions such as informing the president about the possible implications and/or ramifications of a ports deal with Dubai, and probably also keeping tabs on the Abramoff's of the Republican world. I don't think the Abramoff "scandal" alone would have been it for Card, or even if it shaded his report card, but I'm thinking this is definitely related to the ports thing.

Either he's resigning to express (to our friends in the UAE) his displeasure with the outcome of that transaction, or he's being scapegoated to the party as being guilty of the negligence that led to such a transaction... or both... either way, he's surely taking one for the team.

I don't agree that this was the result of a Rove power play. Card's made it too far into the game to have suddenly become a liability to Rove's machine. I see this as more of a calculated move by TeamBush© than a sign of some sort of internal collapse.

That being said, I haven't actually read the first word about this yet, so these are just my uninformed first impressions based solely on Max's post. I reserve the right to completely contradict myself at a later time.