June 4 - The timing is odd. About to embark on a foreign trip, on his way to his helicopter, President George W. Bush stops to announce his CIA director has resigned. Bush’s words are halting and his body language hesitant, as though the news has taken him off stride.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5138567/site/newsweek/

If George Tenet’s departure was carefully choreographed by the White House, it looks like somebody may have forgotten to tell Bush. The purpose of forcing the resignation of a high-level official is to make the boss look good, and the president looked shell-shocked. He said he was sorry the intelligence chief was leaving, and he praised Tenet’s tenure in government.

Bush’s remarks had the feel of a negotiated settlement, as in "I won’t rat on you if you don’t rat on me."

When the CIA director bails out this close to the election and in the midst of tense times at home and abroad, voters may wonder if the wheels are coming off the Bush administration. The way Tenet’s resignation was tendered leads to the conclusion this was not coordinated and that Tenet decided on his own it was a good time to get out. His resume is circulating on Wall Street with at least two major corporations, and he’d like to nail something down before his reputation gets further damaged.

It would be no less of a shocker if, in August on the eve of the GOP convention, Bush stopped on his way to the helicopter and announced his vice president is stepping down.