I AM NOT A PA(RRO)T!!!

Mr. Tiberi is trying, but it just gets stuck in his throat. There's an interesting article in today's Dispatch about the Editorial Board's meeting with Tiberi and Shamansky, with the headline:

Tiberi latest Republican to break step with Bush

but it doesn't sound to me as if his heart is really in it:

... Tiberi, expanding on his remarks later yesterday, didn’t call for Rumsfeld’s resignation.

"If I were president, he would not be the defense secretary," Tiberi said. "I haven’t been impressed with his leadership skills. He has been less than accessible to members of Congress and begrudgingly debriefs us on an irregular basis, and he does not take criticism and advice very well.

"I think the president could do better."

Tiberi said Democratic efforts to cast him as a presidential lap dog are unfair.

According to studies by Congressional Quarterly, Tiberi’s support for the president has dipped in recent years. While Tiberi voted to support Bush’s position 91 percent of the time in 2003, that figure dropped to 71 percent last year...

The article also talks about some recent campaign funding developments, namely that Bob has now poured a cool million dollars into his campaign (triggering an increase in the individual contribution cap for Tiberi). This is going to be an interesting autumn.