Taegan Goddard's Political Wire

May 17, 2009

Rumsfeld's Bible Briefings

A must-read GQ piece reveals never-before-seen cover sheets from former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's top-secret intelligence briefings, which feature Bible passages thematically selected to correspond with war events. Despite objections within the Pentagon to the cover sheets, these reports were distributed daily to a limited group, including the president.

Frank Rich: "They are seriously creepy."

Other key tidbits from the piece:

Rumsfeld played a significant role in delaying parts of the administration's response to the Hurricane Katrina disaster areas.

Rumsfeld was among a group within the administration who successfully fought a recommendation to award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA).

President Bush was hesitant and slow to act on the dismissal of Rumsfeld even when counseled to do so by his close advisers.

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Taegan D. Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country, including the Washington Post, USA Today, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer and Christian Science Monitor.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

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