The Administration

Townsend Leaves with Wet Kiss

Another rat deserts the sinking ship.

Donald Rumsfeld, Alberto Gonzales, Karl Rove, Dan Bartlett, Tony Snow, Karen Hughes and now Fran Townsend. They’re jumping over the rails so fast, it’s hard to keep track of who’s there and who’s not.

But Fran Townsend takes the prize. She leaves with the biggest wet kiss of all to her former boss.

In a three-page, hand-written letter of resignation, Townsend gushes: “In 1937, the playwright Maxwell Anderson wrote of President George Washington: ‘There are some men who lift the age they inhabit, till all men walk on higher ground in their lifetime.’ Mr. President, you are such a man.”

Oh, God. Pardon me while I vomit.

There’s only one way George Bush resembles George Washington: They share the same name. Otherwise they are exact opposites. One knew what he was doing, the other doesn’t have a clue. One was revered, the other is not taken seriously. One was a leader, the other’s a loser.

If she had any sense of reality, Ms. Townsend would have written, instead: “There are some men who are unqualified to walk in George Washington’s shoes. Mr. President, you are such a man.”

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