WASHINGTON — For weeks, there has been talk of the White House rolling out a prominent Republican supporter of START, the nuclear weapons treaty negotiated with Russia.
The chatter heightened last week, when a conspicuous opening was seen in the president’s daily schedule. But the endorser that go-round — former Secretary of State Colin Powell — had already spoken in favor of START in the past. And his subsequent reaffirmation of support made little news.
On Wednesday, the White House landed its new big fish, and without much of a line being cast. Former President George H.W. Bush put out a one-line statement that read: « I urge the United States Senate to ratify the START treaty. »
The statement, which could give the treaty a nice boost among Republican voters in the Senate (it needs 67 senators to pass) was sent out without the administration’s prompting, said Jim Appleby, an aide to the former president.
« He was not asked to put this out via the White House, » Appleby said.
The notion that the administration wasn’t making overtures in private to get Bush’s support remains hard to believe. And it could be that Bush’s office simply didn’t alert them to the fact that a statement was coming. Indeed, the administration aide who blasted out the statement to reporters acknowledged finding out about the former president’s support via a report by CNN.
As for the brevity of it all, Appleby was equally direct. « It is short and sweet and to the point, » he said.
Source Huffington Post
