The other side of Powell

I used to have high, high regard for the man... His recent leaks concerning the Bolton nomination though are bringing out reviews like this. If Lasky's reports are true, then its time for a long hard look at the man, which, admittedly, I'm a little slow to coming around to.

Of course I don't like Powell's attempt to sink Bolton's nomination. Powell's positions also tend to represent too much of what is wrong with "paleocon" thinking that would have American power hamstrung by the Lilliputians in the security council. But, the success of neocon philosophy is not a foregone conclusion, although, in my mind it offers the best hope for future security. (I remarked to friends as late as the summer of '02 that a Security Council resolution would give us the needed legitimacy for an invasion of Iraq--A postion I have now seriously re-thought.) Accordingly, I would not fault a loyal conservative simply for having a different philosophical take. So, is Lasky's article simply responding to blood in the water as Powell wounds himself with his antics over Bolton, or was Powell's leak really just the most recent episode in a string of such conduct?