Rumsfield stepping down?

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MikeWM said:
🙂 That’s been par for the course in UK poilitics for as long as I remember. Once the Prime Minister starts defending the job you’re doing, you’re on the way out.

Mike
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One thing I’ve always admired about the British parlaimentary system is the debates between the leaders of both parties- the prime minister and the opposition leader- when parlaiment is in session. Whether you agree with them or not, you get an idea of how intelligent both men/women are and how quick they are on their feet. I always thought it would be interesting to see Bush debate Harry Reid or Nancy Pelosi.
 
Well I am against cloning but if I wasn’t I’d be begging to dig up DNA of Regan and McCarthur we could sorely use both of them right now…
 
Thomas_B said:
One thing I’ve always admired about the British parlaimentary system is the debates between the leaders of both parties- the prime minister and the opposition leader- when parlaiment is in session. Whether you agree with them or not, you get an idea of how intelligent both men/women are and how quick they are on their feet. I always thought it would be interesting to see Bush debate Harry Reid or Nancy Pelosi.
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Yes, indeed. I can’t say I’m much of a fan of Prime Minister’s questions myself, but in general it’s far better to have that sort of opportunity for debate than not to have it.

Mike
 
Thomas_B said:
And if the Dems are able to pass additional environmental protection laws, the air and water may be cleaner too! 🙂
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And stricter laws on our meats - I have really curtailed eating lunch meat now that someone was paid off for lobbying to have viruses sprayed on them to “protect us” :eek:
 
Thomas_B said:
You notice that whenever Bush publicly praises someone, they seem to be out of a job PDQ, such as George Tenent, Mike “You’re Doing a heckuva job Brownie” Brown, and now Rummy. Good thing for Cheney that he’s elected, otherwise I think he would be out of a job next. I would be so stressed to work for someone like Bush. Could you imagine getting a good performance eval and wondering whether that means you’re going to get the ax the next day? :eek:
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HA HA! Yes, Bush seems to have an odd habit of telling people they’re doing a “heckuva job” (Brownie) or saying, under Rumsfeld the world was made safer…WHAT??? So he gets rid of people doing great jobs and keeping the world safe? :eek:

😃
 
CathCentrist said:
You believe that? The President basically admitted today to journalists he lied the other day about keeping Rumsfeld on for another 2 years.
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Everyone seems to have glossed over what you just said. Let me highlight that. He LIED. It blew my mind the way he answered those questions yesterday. He could’ve said no comment, next question, we’re not going to discuss that. Instead he LIED.

But we won’t discuss that. We’ll do what we usually do and point at the democrats and speculate about their spin, etc. :rolleyes:

The other thing that killed me was when he said “they won”. Talk about dividing a nation. The us against them mentality goes all the way to the top. No wonder nothing gets done in this country (and yeah yeah, we all know it’s the other guys fault).
 
Dandelion_Wine said:
Everyone seems to have glossed over what you just said. Let me highlight that. He LIED. It blew my mind the way he answered those questions yesterday. He could’ve said no comment, next question, we’re not going to discuss that. Instead he LIED.
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Yes, he sure did. Plain as day. Amazing.

Still, he seemed in a particularly foul mood yesterday. Can’t think why 🙂

Mike
 
Did ya notice just how fast Rumsfeld’s boss accepted that resignation?
 
And the winner is … the CIA.

It’s a toss up which bureaucracy is the biggest loser; which has served the American people the worst. CIA or DoD.

But, the new head of the DoD is a person who spent a huge portion of his whole working life at the CIA.
 
Yes…it’s almost like it was planned :bigyikes: .:rolleyes:
The president said he already had set in motion the process of replacing Rumsfeld before the election, although Bush had maintained in an interview with reporters just last week that he expected to keep his defense secretary through his second term.
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He said, though, that he had not met with Gates until Sunday and didn’t have a final meeting with Rumsfeld until Tuesday. Bush met with Gates at the president’s Prairie Chapel Ranch outside Crawford, Texas, before heading out for a day of campaigning in Nebraska and Kansas.
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Bush said Wednesday that he misled reporters on the Rumsfeld question because “I didn’t want to inject a major decision about this war in the final days of a campaign. And so the only way to answer that question and to get you on to another question was to give you that answer.”
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chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0611090199nov09,1,5717705.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed

How else do you think he had a named replacement ready? Did you think he just woke up Wednesday morning and said “Well, we lost, I guess I’ll give Rummy the boot.”?
2Rollin_Stoned said:
Did ya notice just how fast Rumsfeld’s boss accepted that resignation?
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rlg94086 said:
Yes…it’s almost like it was planned :bigyikes: .:rolleyes:

chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0611090199nov09,1,5717705.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed

How else do you think he had a named replacement ready? Did you think he just woke up Wednesday morning and said “Well, we lost, I guess I’ll give Rummy the boot.”?
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Wow, that’s a pretty amazing statement that Bush made. Bush prides himself on being bold and that is pretty darned bold alright. Having your president tell you that he out and out lied to you is pretty scary- makes you wonder about his credibility. And what’s even scarier is that the lame rationale that he used doesn’t even sound like he cares that he lied, ‘I lied because I didn’t have any other choice’. Of course there were choices, there were a million other things that Bush could have said to avoid lying other than- ‘I definitely want Rummy to stay till the end of the term.’

Sure all politicians lie and the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal was another great example. But man, this one was so politically stupid- lying to the country knowing that the very next week you’ll be taking an action that will completely expose the lie. And what a bad example to set for the country and for our children.
 
Never (ok, maybe not never but rarely) have I been so upset with the President. Using Rumsfeld (a hero of mine) as a sacrificial lamb like this is a disgrace. After the atrocities the other night, we need to stand strong and regroup, not bow down and offer up sacrifices, especially not of people (like Rumsfeld) who have done a fine job, and are wrongfully blamed for (really nonexistant) problems in Iraq.
 
Thomas_B said:
Sure all politicians lie and the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal was another great example. But man, this one was so politically stupid- lying to the country knowing that the very next week you’ll be taking an action that will completely expose the lie. And what a bad example to set for the country and for our children.
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Hey, at least he was honest about his lie. 😃

I take exception with your comment about it being politically stupid. His reason was valid - he didn’t to introduce Rummy’s exit right before an election. Could he have used different wording instead of lying? Sure. What is the political effect? None. People on the Left won’t hate him any more than they already do, and he can’t be re-elected.

Does it bother me that he lied to me? Not in the least, as the lie was of no consequence. If he were Catholic, I would expect him to confess this venial sin during his next confession.
 
CWard34 said:
Never (ok, maybe not never but rarely) have I been so upset with the President. Using Rumsfeld (a hero of mine) as a sacrificial lamb like this is a disgrace. After the atrocities the other night, we need to stand strong and regroup, not bow down and offer up sacrifices, especially not of people (like Rumsfeld) who have done a fine job, and are wrongfully blamed for (really nonexistant) problems in Iraq.
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Nonexistant problems in Iraq? :eek:

:rotfl:
 
rlg94086 said:
Hey, at least he was honest about his lie. 😃

I take exception with your comment about it being politically stupid. His reason was valid - he didn’t to introduce Rummy’s exit right before an election. Could he have used different wording instead of lying? Sure. What is the political effect? None. People on the Left won’t hate him any more than they already do, and he can’t be re-elected.

Does it bother me that he lied to me? Not in the least, as the lie was of no consequence. If he were Catholic, I would expect him to confess this venial sin during his next confession.
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I don’t mind him lying to the press. They would just take what was said, chop one phrase out of it and blast it in big headlines in such a way as to give the wrong impression.
 
**Geopolitical Diary: Rumsfeld’s Legacy
**www.stratfor.com
Rumsfeld’s primary goal, and the reason that U.S. President George W. Bush brought him into the government in the first place, was to bring about a seminal shift in the shape of the U.S. military. He sought to skip over an entire generation of military hardware – such as the F-22, which is only now entering the military’s toolkit – and instead focus on the development of fundamentally new technologies, so that 20 years from now the United States would be fielding technology two generations ahead of any potential foes… Part and parcel of this change would be a massive reduction in the size of the military, with the army suffering the largest cuts in manpower and resources.

There would be a corresponding emphasis on light, highly mobile forces with high-tech capabilities such as long-range hypersonic cruise missiles, smart drones and the ability to insert small forces anywhere in the world at a moment’s notice. Rumsfeld’s biggest failing was not his plan, or even his execution of it. It was that reality intervened… and he refused to shift course in midstream. Rumsfeld’s plan could overturn the Taliban or Saddam Hussein’s government, but it could not muster the manpower necessary to impose order on the resulting chaos. Without sufficient “boots on the ground,” the United States has proven unable to deny militants the environment in which they thrive…

Gates is a placeholder – a competent placeholder for sure, but a placeholder nonetheless. Facing a hostile Congress, the Bush administration has sharp limitations on its actions and we will be seeing no revolutionary proposals from a defense secretary [Gates] who will be in his job a maximum of two years. The irony is that, instead of leaping ahead by a generation, U.S. forces have now been saddled with the worst of both worlds: an exhausted military that will take years to repair, and limited progress in the modernization that they will likely need a generation from now.
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Thomas_B said:
And if the Dems are able to pass additional environmental protection laws, the air and water may be cleaner too! 🙂
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If you believe that, I have some lovely beach front property I’d love to sell you in Kansas.
 
Ani_Ibi said:
Geopolitical Diary: Rumsfeld’s Legacy
[www.stratfor.com](http://www.stratfor.com)
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Interesting view and I agree with the analysis of Rumsfeld’s failing. Bush should have replaced Rumsfeld two years ago IMHO, but I am not in charge.

We will see how Gates makes out and what he does. He only has 2 years, which is nothing as far as the Pentagon is concerned, so I agree he is a stop gap person. He may be able to change the course on some things. But I don’t know if he will ramp up the Army as it needs to be to fight all these small wars we will need to in the next few years.

It is funny how so many people are ignoring Somalia and Dufar, even on this forum.

If the Bush Administration and the Democratic Congress were working together, maybe they could outline some short term goals that both groups could agree to and have Gates work on those.

I am glad to see some moderates coming back into government.
 
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