NYT confirms key element of today's "Bush is CRAZY" internet story

[troublemaker]

All day this amusing but presumptively dubious story has been kicking around: http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/printer_4636.shtml For those who haven't read it, it essentially says Bush has lost his mind and the WH has devolved into something akin to the atmosphere of Nixon's last days.

My chief interest in the piece is that it provided an explanation of the monumental disarray associated with Bush's announcement of Tenet's resignation, and particularly what happened during the minutes *after* Bush's press conference with PM Howard and before his insane Tenet announcement. The CapHillBlue story said that Bush fired Tenet himself without telling any of the big players that are presumed to run the WH and that he told them only minutes before his announcement.

Leaving aside whether Tenet resigned or was fired, the key here is that Bush was keeping it a secret from his own people until only minutes before he bugged out of town for Europe. That was, to me and many others, the single most difficult thing to swallow thing in the entire CapHillBlue story.

(On edit for clarity) Everyone agrees that Capitol Hill Blue has a less than perfect track record and (almost) everyone has treated the story with caution, awaiting confirmation of key elements from more mainstream sources. (end edit)

This paragraph wasn't in the early editions of today's New York Times but sneaked into the final:

After delivering a press conference with the Australian PM in the Rose Garden, Bush apparently walked back into the Oval Office, where he mentioned the resignation to Cheney, Powell, Rice, and other senior advisers. A few minutes later, Bush re-emerged to make the public announcement before hopping in his chopper.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/04/politics/04TENE.html?pagewanted=print&position=

So maybe the dubious story wasn't so dubious after all. CapHillBlue seems to have gotten at least this one surprising detail right. (And before the NYT had it)

Does that mean Bush really did fire Tenet without running it by Rove and Cheney? And if Tenet didn't make his private appointment with Bush in order to resign, what was the meeting about? What did Tenet tell Bush that was so 'disloyal'? Did he perhaps signal his intention to cooperate with the Plame Grand Jury, or what? (tinfoil futures are soaring)
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earlier ruminations on this crazy story here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x1717361