Fresh from announcing that he's re-submitting a gaggle of already rejected right-wing extremists as judicial nominees, the stories about Bush's new-found bi-partisan nature are blossoming all over Washington. There's even talk that he may shove Rove out the door to signal his embrace of a new concept he thought of: "I'm a unitah, not a dividah." (Although in an interview yesterday with James Moore, author of Bush's Brain and The Architect, Keith Olbermann suggests it could be Abramoff-related corruption and ethics concerns that could be Rove's undoing.)
For now, though, the Rovian instinct for jugular partisanship and pitbull attack, still dominates White House policies... completely. Take for example Bush's bipartisan nomination as head of the family-planning programs at the Department of Health and Human Services, a clearly unacceptable loon who has would have less of a chance of being confirmed than Rumsfeld would have as the next Supreme Court nominee-- except the post doesn't require confirmation by the Senate.
A far right extremist and loony fanatic, Eric Keroack considers contraceptives "demeaning to women" and, presumably that is the kind of advice on matters of reproductive health and adolescent pregnancy he will be giving his new boss, Mike Leavitt. Today's Washington Post points out that Keroack "will oversee $283 million in annual family-planning grants that, according to HHS, are 'designed to provide access to contraceptive supplies and information to all who want and need them with priority given to low-income persons.'"
The announcement pissed off family-planning advocates as, no doubt, it was meant to. "Marilyn Keefe, interim president of the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association, which represents 4,000 family-planning clinics, said Keroack's work 'seems to really be geared toward furthering anti-choice, anti-contraception policies.' She added that despite the congressional election results, the appointment 'goes to show you the importance of controlling the White House and how important federal agencies are in the delivery of health services'... Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, called Keroack's appointment 'striking proof that the Bush administration remains dramatically out of step with the nation's priorities.'"
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