Please don't dare say Francis Townsend wants to spend more time with her family. The president's Homeland Security Advisor, whose resignation was announced today, apparently explicitly forbade the White House press office from saying she was resigning to spend more time with her family. "I'm going to just take another job doing 20 hour days but this time in the private sector," Townsend said, according to CNN.
In a statement released by the White House press office, President Bush said Townsend "has played an integral role in the formation of key strategies and policies my administration has used to combat terror and protect Americans.'' Townsend spent 4 1/2 years in the role, in which she tracked terrorist groups and assessed the threats they posed. She also oversaw the revamping of the federal government's response to emergencies after Hurricane Katrina.
Townsend's resignation of course follows that of many other Bush aides, including Karl Rove and Alberto Gonzales. The AP notes that White House press secretary Dana Perino "shrugged off the notion that a loss of top talent will hurt Bush's last months in office." Perhaps Townsend is a different story, but surely no one contends that losing Gonzales was going to "hurt" the Bush administration.
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