Out Paced

The big news in war today is that Defense Secretary Robert Gates has ousted Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Peter Pace in favor of Navy Adm. Mike Mullen. Cernig gets to the heart of the move:

It seems plain to me that Mullen is being brought forward, in part, to clean house for Gates and consolidate his position at Defense by sweeping out all the old Rumsfield hangovers. That won't please Cheney, who was always the closest to Rummie in White House circles as the two of them headed the neocon cabal. [...]

Does anyone else get the impression that the real feud in the Bush administration in coming days won't be the much publicized Cheney-Rice spat but instead a Cheney-Gates one?

While I do believe Cheney has been marginalized in BushCo 2.0 his work behind the scenes to sabotage any good (debatable good) being done by Rice and Gates will force events, and GOP sentiment, toward neocon aggression. With the neocon's time in power running out you can be sure Cheney will not go down without a fight.