Rumsfeld stepping down (merged) (1 Viewer)

He's from the "kill it before it becomes a threat" school of thinking however he also is probably one of the most knowledgable people out there on Mid eastern affairs and politics. He understands the landscape out there. He's also a real forward thinker. He'll know when to fight and when to talk and most importantly how to fight.

I know quite a bit about the guy and I really like the nomination.

For the "looking for a problem" crowd he was involved, loosely, in Iran-Contra. Was never indicted but did have to testify and I believe his boss at the time was indicted.

What's his relationship with James Baker, if any to speak of?

He seems to be part of the turn to toward Baker's Iraq Study Group. Seems to be about the best one can hope for at the moment given the limits of debate about the Middle East.

Baker knows the issues well and is one of the few I would trust to see the problems realistically. He's one of the last major political figures in America to try to get at the heart of the problems, against much resistance.

Electoral politics in '91-'92 cut him short.
 
Woohoo!!! Go Rummy -- go into retirement and quickly. Ironic that he can just quit this war he so poorly executed while the soldiers are still dieing but it is a good move.
 
I remember when Bush was inaugurated, and his lack of experience was balanced by the staff assembled around him. This was the equivalent of Kennedy's "best and the brightest", which brought us into Vietnam to fight falling dominoes. A theory takes hold, and the world view conforms accordingly.

Similarly, the idea of nation building in the Middle East holds sway, at least until January, 2009. I suspect Rumsfeld knows more than is let on. He was hired to perform the periodic self-assessment in the Defense department and transform it into a leaner post-Cold War fighting force. Then 9/11 intervened.

Whether to go in with overwhelming force, as Colin Powell would advocate, or go in with a more focused smaller contingent as Rumsfeld apparently wanted, there has been enough elapsed time since March, 2003, to get the mission right. That is still a work in progress, and the results could be as "benign" as Vietnam, or something worse. To believe the former takes cognitive dissonance, as Cambodians, boat people, orphans, "re-educated" South Vietnamese, and Communists taking confidence from the Vietnam failure to spread mischief to four continents can attest. There were dominoes; they were just not contiguous. The latter Iraq situation today is, to quote Rumsfeld, "an unknowable unknown".

Rumsfeld's scalp removed the day after puts the lie to Bush's vote of confidence in him last week. His ouster prior to the election would smack of politics; now, it is the first bone tossed to the Democrats. More will follow, and the trail won't end until it reaches 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. That's the real target.
 
>>SoonerJim<SCRIPT type=text/javascript> vbmenu_register("postmenu_27709", true); </SCRIPT>​


Speaking of bones, don't know if you caught the aftermath thread, but I've got a vision of you wildeyed and slobberingly drunken on politics like you were back in undergraduate school. Bloodletting is one of your favorite spectator sports. I know you've got to be loving every damn minute of this. More will follow? Legacies preserved, historical new heights of popularity? Go Clin, I mean Bush!

TPS
 
Great move, but Bush still needs to be impeached for his dereliction of duty and inaction in Iraq and New Orleans- it all starts at the top.

I agree, Rumsfeld had to go. However, as anyone noticed he "resigned" after the election. This should show the DUs that his resignation was not politically motivated.

As for Bush being impeached for derilication of duty, I feel you are barking up the wrong moveon.org.
 
>>I agree, Rumsfeld had to go. However, as anyone noticed he "resigned" after the election. This should show the DUs that his resignation was not politically motivated.

He was sacked though. He didn't really resign of course. But you knew that.

TPS
 
>>SoonerJim<SCRIPT type=text/javascript> vbmenu_register("postmenu_27709", true); </SCRIPT>​


Speaking of bones, don't know if you caught the aftermath thread, but I've got a vision of you wildeyed and slobberingly drunken on politics like you were back in undergraduate school. Bloodletting is one of your favorite spectator sports. I know you've got to be loving every damn minute of this. More will follow? Legacies preserved, historical new heights of popularity? Go Clin, I mean Bush!

TPS

I was disinterested in politics until late in grad school, having witnessed your hero Jimmy Carter (I keed), whereupon I changed my voter registration. Were I in my 20s now, I'd go the other way. I grew up in a yellow dog blue collar Archie Bunker family which loathed Nixon. Some things never change. My pedigree is secure. ;=)

The legislative branch has a constitutional obligation to monitor the executive branch. What stands out is that the events yesterday were historically ordinary. The magnitudes are usual for the sixth year. The 40 year Democrat control from 1954 to 1994 is the anomaly. Changeovers occur more rapidly than that. Comparing the 12 year term just ended to the previous 40 year interval is the wrong model.

In that context, loosing Waxman and Dingell on the Bush administration is less vengence and more of a corrective. If done right, it can be a civic tool of good governance. That will not happen. At least, I hope not. That would be expecting too much of these "servants".
 
>>I was disinterested in politics until late in grad school,

It was ambiguous sentence structure. Should have read, instead, as you being wildeyed and sobberlingly druken like you were back in undergrad school...

At least, I know you've got some drool in that corner of your mouth. And you don't even need to say it, the servants will fail to do the right thing but should offer ample interim entertainment.

TPS
 
I actually think cRummy really did resign. I haven't heard anything substanative to the contrary. The man has made his bones despite his most recent collosal failure and was probably tired of being blamed for basically destroying the Republican party. Yesterday the editor of the National Review said he should resign. When that happens to someone whose as big a hero to conservative as Rummy pride alone probably dictates it's time to take a walk.

Granted he's tried to resign before and Bush wouldn't accept. His accepting is where I think the political difference is.
 
I was disinterested in politics until late in grad school


...I was fixin' to correct you for using "disinterested" instead of "uninterested"- which are two seperate things, as anyone who's seen Warren Beatty's "Bugsy" can attest- but then I found this on Dictionary.com:

"Disinterested and uninterested share a confused and confusing history. Disinterested was originally used to mean “not interested, indifferent”; uninterested in its earliest use meant “impartial.” By various developmental twists, disinterested is now used in both senses. Uninterested is used mainly in the sense “not interested, indifferent.” It is occasionally used to mean “not having a personal or property interest.”Many object to the use of disinterested to mean “not interested, indifferent.” They insist that disinterested can mean only “impartial”: A disinterested observer is the best judge of behavior. However, both senses are well established in all varieties of English, and the sense intended is almost always clear from the context."
 
>>I was fixin' to correct you...

That would be a highly unwise move. Despite the fact that SoonerJim is above correction, if you piss him off, you're going to get polysyllabically schooled. Trust me. Been there many times.

:)

TPS
 
...if you piss him off, you're going to get polysyllabically schooled...

In iambic pentameter.
 

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