[sneakypete]

Now, Bush needs to follow this up by firing Powell and appointing Rummy as the Acting Secretary of State until a suitably conservative replacement for Powell can be found!

While it's probably safe to say I am not the biggest Bubba-2 supporter to be found on FR,firing Powell is something Bubba-2 CAN'T do. He could get away with firing Laura quicker than firing Powell. The most obvious reason for this is that Powell is black,but the real reason is that Bubba-2 can't afford to create a political martyr out of Powell. Powell probably has wet dreams about Bubba-2 firing him.

We could put Powell-protege Richard Armitage in a lower ranking

Armitage is not only a guy who CAN be fired,but a guy that SHOULD be fired.

[rightwing2]

While it's probably safe to say I am not the biggest Bubba-2 supporter to be found on FR,firing Powell is something Bubba-2 CAN'T do. He could get away with firing Laura quicker than firing Powell. The most obvious reason for this is that Powell is black,but the real reason is that Bubba-2 can't afford to create a political martyr out of Powell. Powell probably has wet dreams about Bubba-2 firing him. Armitage is not only a guy who CAN be fired,but a guy that SHOULD be fired.

Well, obviously the best course of action would be to make life so difficult and otherwise unenjoyable for Powell that he resigns himself. Then Bush steps out and makes a magnanimous statement that "it is with great regret that I accept Colin Powell's resignation." The way you do that is by getting Bush to reject most of Powell's advice and go with the recommendations of the Rummy faction. Unfortunately, Bush is not that sophisticated. The problem with Powell is not so much that he is Secretary of State, but that he is able to persuade Bush to do the wrong thing and pursue policies of Communist and terrorist appeasement when Bush would have otherwise been pressured by the recommendations of his other advisors like Rumsfeld to take a forceful stand against Communist tyranny/terrorism. That said, I would certainly like to see Armitage replaced by Bolton as the Deputy Secretary of State because then Bolton, a closet member of the Rummy faction himself, could takeover from Powell when Powell is on international travel and urge Bush to make all the right decisions in line with Rumsfeld. The problem is that you kind of got to wait for a suitable pretext to get rid of Armitage. Once Armitage was gone, Powell, a good friend of his, would scream bloody murder and then resign soon after.