GOP 'in political shock' over Card's magazine leak

Republicans expressed shock yesterday at reports that White House Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card Jr. discussed internal dissent within the Bush administration in a magazine interview.

The White House has been remarkably leak-proof during President Bush's first 17 months in office, and Mr. Card's comments in the July issue of Esquire are the first major breach in what some have called the administration's "wall of silence" about internal disagreements over policy.
"The idea that Andy Card would talk about these things in such a goofy way doesn't make sense," said Grover Norquist, a conservative activist and confidant of White House chief political strategist Karl Rove.
Mr. Card told Esquire that the expected departure of presidential adviser and longtime Bush confidante Karen P. Hughes would leave Mr. Rove as the sole remaining powerhouse among those who have the ear of President Bush.
That's bad, Mr. Card suggested, because Mr. Rove is more conservative than the pragmatic Mrs. Hughes, who plans to return to Texas this summer to spend more time with her family.