Conceding in the face of trenchant criticism of his personal abilities, as Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld offered himself as the ultimate sacrifice. Rumsfeld said, "The president knows, as I know, that there are no indispensable men. Graveyards of the world are filled with 'indispensable people.'"
The comment is seen as Rumsfeld’s acceptance of the president’s preferred solution to the increasingly vocal critics.
Rumsfeld, who has said he twice offered Bush his resignation in 2004 amid the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal, but the President has rejected the ‘easy way out’. President Bush, speaking publicly on the fate of his beleaguered Defence Secretary:
"I'm the decider and I decide what's best," Bush told reporters. “I hear the voices,” the President added.
"He knows that I serve at his pleasure and that's that," Rumsfeld said.
The new White House chief of staff, Josh Bolten, told officials Monday that anyone considering leaving this year should go now.
We can blame Kvach for my abnormal lapse into ‘news rewriting’.
For a ‘reasoned’ balance…
Would Someone Explain to Rumsfeld the Difference Between a Bowel Movement and Utter Failure?
"Rumsfeld Says of Latest Flap, 'This Too Will Pass.'"
Message to Mr. Master of the Universe: We are not talking about a bowel movement here. We are talking about thousands upon thousands of lives lost, thousands more wounded, billions of dollars of our money spent wastefully, and a military that thinks you don't know what the Hell you are doing -- along with the blessed ignorance of Bush and Cheney.
And the ‘They were worse’ defense trotted out by Republican apologists:
I know that most of my readers will be tickled pink that the bemedalled boys in crew cuts are finally ready to kick Rummy in the rump, in public. But to me, it just shows me that these boys still can't shoot straight.It wasn't Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld who stood up in front of the UN and identified two mobile latrines as biological weapons labs, was it, General Powell?
3 comments:
I love the "They were worse" defense. it's great to be able to change the dialogue and take the heat off yourself by pointing at the previous caretakers at the White House and say "Look, an illicit blowjob!"
But it really shouldn't work anymore with anybody other than the craziest administration supporter.
Unfortunately, you still hear the defense repeated on American television, particularly the cable networks, all the time.
I just love the bush’s comment about hearing the voices. It’d easy to shift things out of context, but I still wonder (though I don’t hear the voices…).
What I find remarkable is the collective inability to be able to be able to understand cause and effect, or history even their own very recent history.
Do they not listen to themselves? Do they not review their utterances for credibility? Is anyone in the office, or do the lights just burn to amuse themselves?
I really don't think the boys and girls at the WH listen to their own words or check them over for credibility.
Remember after 9/11 when the press were sychophantic in their coverage and the administration was forcing anybody who came in contact with the preznit to sign a loyalty oath?
I think the administration figured it was always going to be this way, so why bother with the truth when any old shit you spin to the press and the people gets believed?
But then the failures started to mount, Katrina exposed the people running the show to be complete morons, and the poll numbers dropped - so now every little lie uttered by Bush, Cheney, Bartlett, McClellan, Rummy, etc gets pored over by the press in ways that never would have happened back in 2002.
Ultimately, I think they're just getting called on their bullshit now, and they could have been called on their bullshit back in 2002, 2003 and 2004 too, but the press was too scared to do it.
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