The New York Times reports that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has an “unusually tight bond” with President Bush, which she has used to “gain control over the national security process.” But Bush hasn’t always been receptive to her suggestions of increased international diplomacy:
In recent months, Ms. Rice has gone so often to Mr. Bush to push him on diplomacy with Iran and North Korea that he has started to needle her that she expects him to talk to people like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the radical Islamist who is president of Iran, or Kim Jong-il, the North Korean leader whom Mr. Bush has said he loathes.
“You want me to sit down with Ahmadinejad?” a White House official recalled that Mr. Bush had archly asked Ms. Rice. “Kim Jong-il? Is he next?”
Steve Benen and Jason Zengerle have more.
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