Fran Townsend will say goodbye to the White House after 4 1/2 years of service. Although there was no reason given for her resignation, Bush indicated it was an amicable parting and expressed his admiration for her.
“Fran always has provided wise counsel on how best to protect the American people from the threat of terrorism. She has been a steady leader in the effort to prevent and disrupt attacks and to better respond to natural disasters.”
You will remember Fran Townsend as the “face” of the administration’s counterterrorism arm. She was the one to make the morning news programs and Sunday talking head rounds. She defended and explained President Bush’s use of the term “Islamic Fascist” in the midst of controversy that it was offensive to Muslims, she also assured California, and the nation, that the federal government response to the wild fires would be much better than that to Katrina. (On a side note: Of course it would, it was wealthy white home owners displaced in the wildfires.)
This is just the latest departure of Bush’s crew. Before Townsend; of course, Rove, Rumsfeld, Gonzales, Tony Snow, and Dan Bartlett also parted ways with the administration, many of them amid swirling controversies. It leads me to wonder exactly what Ms. Townsend is fleeing, if anything.
Bush hasn’t commented on her successor so we can only hope that it will be someone qualified for the position.
I appreciate this post’s anger at HUD Secretary Jackson. But the corruption at HUD is nothing new, and it is not President Bush’s fault. Secretary Jackson is responsible for his own faults and actions.
The Secretary of HUD position has often been a cabinet slot to just park a minority in. That Jackson was corrupt and energetic in his abuse of power is Jackson’s own fault. As for HUD, it has always been a disgraceful waste of tax dollars. There is no sense in spending money on affordable housing for blacks or for development of black inner cities; every dollar spent on that is waste and/or graft.
Thank you for your comment Lyn. I completely agree with you that Mr. Jackson is responsible for his own actions. It would be a mistake, in my mind, to not see this as yet another one of Bush’s corrupted friends stepping down in disgrace from positions that they should never have been appointed in the first place. Bush’s error is surrounding himself with unqualified, corrupt people, even in the highest offices.