Bell Curve The Law Talking Guy Raised by Republicans U.S. West
Well, he's kind of had it in for me ever since I accidentally ran over his dog. Actually, replace "accidentally" with "repeatedly," and replace "dog" with "son."

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Let the fall Out Begin

BIG NEWS! RUMSFELD HAS RESIGNED! Now that the Dems have the Senate, he has had enough.

It's about time. Now let's see who else will fall out of the chain of command!

12 comments:

Dr. Strangelove said...

LTG has pointed out (offline) that the reason Rumsfeld may have been ousted now is so that the lame-duck Republican-controlled Senate could confirm his successor... Bush knows that a Democratic-led Senate would use confirmation hearings for a new Secretary of Defense to excoriate the Bush Administration's Iraq policy.

Once again, Bush proves himself an out-and-out liar. He saw the same polls we all did, but as I am sure you recall, Bush pledged to keep Rumsfeld for two more years. He even praised his performance! Speaking of Rumsfeld and Cheney, Bush said in a Nov. 1 interview:

"Both those men are doing fantastic jobs and I strongly support them."

...and now Bush fires Rumsfeld. (Excuse me: Rumsfeld "stepped down.") What a loser!

Anonymous said...

Heckuva job, Rovey... 

// posted by LTG

Anonymous said...

He also said in his press conference that "Cheney isn't going anywhere." Well, you can't kick out the VP anyway. By even saying such a thing,you know damn well that they talked about asking Cheney to resign as well.

Oh, and they Republicans took a "thumpin'" according to Bush. Then a journalist asked, "is that thumpin' without the 'g'?"

The questions poffered at the conference were an exercise in Journalistic passive agresivity. One used the phrase "lame duck" and refered to ïncoherent policies" . Another started to ask what Bush would like to "re-do". Bush repsonded before the question was even out that "there aren't any re-dos." It was the first time in 6 years I could look at the guy and actualyl listen. Such fun! 

// posted by USWet

Anonymous said...

He also referred to Nancy Pelosi as "Congresswoman Pelosi" rather than "Speaker Elect Pelosi"...nice show of respect there. 

// posted by Stranger in a strange land

Anonymous said...

Congresswoman Pelosi hasn't even been officially nominated as Speaker so I won't bash Bush for that.

But refusing to do the courtesey call last night was a clear and intentional snub.

Bush's proposed replacement, Bob Gates, is a former CIA Director with ties to Iran Contra. Would Dr. S and US West care to give us all a little tutorial about the inter-agency politics between the DOD and CIA? 

// posted by RBR

Dr. Strangelove said...

Here's another whopper. Bush says today that, "America is safer and more secure" because of Rumsfeld's leadership. Bush adds that Rumsfeld was a "superb leader."

Oh really, Mr. Bush... is that why you fired him? Because he's so good at his job?

What f%@&#!g jerk.

Dr. Strangelove said...

I cannot comment on internal politics between the DoD and the CIA... by which I mean only that you guys know as much as I do. I am not sure that his CIA background makes him a CIA man--that was over 12 years ago.

I think Gates was just the only crony of Cheney and Bush Sr. who (a) had something like "defense" in his background, and (b) has not already been discredited through involvement with the Iraq debacle.

How telling is it that they need to nominate someone from the previous Republican administration--that there was nobody they could nominate from their own! Note that the Asst. Sec. of State, Wolfowitz, wasn't even mentioned...!

Dr. Strangelove said...

I hope Wolfowitz goes next.

Anonymous said...

Wolfowitz is going nowhere. Most of America has no idea who he is. This is not a change of policy -- as Stephen Colbert says, he's just rearranging deck chairs on the Hindenburg. 

// posted by Bell Curve

Anonymous said...

Next on the chopping block: Armitage. He will need to spend more time with his family. 

// posted by LTG

Anonymous said...

Like Dr. S, I can't tell you much about the DoD/CIA departmental politics. Even if I knew, I probably couldn't tell you. What I do know is that the intelligence community and the military are deeply linked. You will find, if you look hard enough, that many of your CIA agents had Army Ranger, Navy Seal, etc. training and served as such. Consider the discussion on this blog about the current head of the CIA, General Michael Hayden. He was once the director of NSA. Need we say more?

We have so many odd levels of intelligence in this country. Each of the military services have their own intelligence agencies/divisions and they all coordinate, especially now.

Bob Gates has held several intelligence and defense related positions from about 1974-1980s. He was on the short list for the post of National Intelligence Czar that Negroponte ultimately ended up. He served on the NSC, served as an assistant to the president on national security affairs, and has served on the Iraq study group for the White House. On paper, he is qualified, but for the Iran Contra thing. It is an interesting pick. What I will be interested to see is if he can get a handle on the chaos that now seems to dominate the Pentagon and that we feel intensely even in our little corner of the universe.
 

// posted by USWest

Anonymous said...

I feel like a Chicago sports fan.

Hey, Rummy -
Na na na na
Na na na na
Hey hey hey
Goodbye! 

// posted by Dead Parrot