Rumsfeld resigning

[The Rabbi]

I dont know that I need to give a "metric."  But if I did it would be loyalty to the President I serve (at least in public), and standing up to the entrenched bureaucracy.

How about a good showing in contemporary military conflicts?  But as I said, I don't know how to measure. 

I don't know how much of that is under the control of the SecDef.

[Perd Hapley]

Then why, against widely-held public opinion, do you think he is the greatest SecDef of all time?  Or is it just because "they" are so often wrong?  Are you counting Secretaries of War or just Secretaries of Defense?

[The Rabbi]

The Dems will go on a crusade to "clean up the culture of dishonesty" and launch numerous congressional probes with special investigators.  These will refer indictments and charges against senior and junior members of the administration.  Said members will resign and spend the next two years fighting in courts, bankrupting themselves in the process.  At the end the courts will agree there was nothing actionable in what they did and clear them completely.  But by then the 2008 election will be over.
As far as anything substantive, fuhgeddaboutit.

As if on cue.  I did not see this article before posting.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061108/ap_on_el_ge/eln_democrats_in_charge_glance
Notice all the "oversight" they plan on exercising.  That is nothing other than witch hunting. I'll bet admin officials will be leaving in droves to avoid this one.

[roo_ster]

The Democrats will protect our soldiers by making sure they practice safe sex. 

With each other.

[lumpy]

Notice all the "oversight" they plan on exercising

In case you hadn't noticed that is founding fathers had in mind when they wrote the constitution. Failure to do "oversight" was also one of the reasons why the right lost this round.

If the Dems did everything in that article I would suggest that they would sweep everything in 2008.

[The Rabbi]

Where is "oversight" mentioned in the USC?
What they are proposing is not oversight, but witch hunting and pay back.

[Nightfall]

The Democrats will protect our soldiers by making sure they practice safe sex. 

fistful, come on. You know that's absurd.

They'll just start giving out tax-payer funded partial-birth abortions. 

(it's scary that I'm only half joking...)

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

In case you hadn't noticed that is founding fathers had in mind when they wrote the constitution. Failure to do "oversight" was also one of the reasons why the right lost this round.

What we're about to endure isn't oversight, it's headhunting.  It's vendetta. 

Bush musta smoked some seriously strong crack last night if he thought canning Rumsfeld was a good idea.  The Jihadists will love it.  The liberals will come to think that their senseless, tireless barrage of hatemongering and unfounded accusations is working.  Now they'll crank it up as much as they can, confident they can make some other heads roll too.

While our soldiers are fighting in Iraq, their leaders will be back home in Washington holding congressional hearings.  They'll spend the next few years screaming bloody murder about how awful the war is, about how it wasn't justified, about how their senior leadership is no good, about how they're dying for nothing, about howBush should be impeached, about how we're losing, and all the rest of the leftist tripe we've heard for the past 3 years but have been largely able to ignore.  There won't be any ignoring it now.  Our soldiers can handle that, but then Bush had to go and give away the farm by firing Rumsfeld?

The Jihadists will hear all about it.  They take it as a sign that they're winning.  They'll redouble their efforts.  Right after they finish patting themselves on the back for influencing an American election. 

Face it, America, the terrorists won this round.  They got Spain to cave by bombing one of their trains.  Now they got America to cave by exploiting our own media and leftists.  They're winning, and it's nobody's fault but our own.

President Bush, you lost my support the moment you fired Rumsfeld.  Last night it was just an election we lost.  This afternoon YOU, Mr. President, compounded the damage tenfold.  100-fold.  YOU handed the Jihadists their biggest victory yet.  After all that our nation, and especially our soldiers, have achieved in this war, YOU went and undid most of it this afternoon when you fired Rumsfeld. 

Losing an election is a minor inconvenience.  Losing this war will be disasterous.  Damn you, Mr. President.  Damn you!

We will rue this day.  Mark my words.

[lumpy]

What we're about to endure isn't oversight, it's headhunting.  It's vendetta. 

another prediction?

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

What we're about to endure isn't oversight, it's headhunting.  It's vendetta. 

another prediction?

Yeah, another prediction.  Wanna make a wager about whether I'm right?

[lumpy]

I would... but your definition of oversight seems to be vendetta. 

btw: did you notice the rise in the market today? they seem to like divided gov.

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

That works both ways, and that's why the libs will get away with it.  The libs, and their mouthpieces in the media, will tell the nation that their headhunting is proper oversight.  And really, who would stand in the way of "proper oversight"?  Mark my words, there will be calls from the far left for Bush and/or Rice and/or Cheney and/or Rove to get the axe, too.  "Oversight" my pasty white posterior.

The market has been rising steadily for months.  I think you'd be hard pressed to prove a correlation between recent market rises and yesterday's election.  (My dog woke up happy this morning.  Maybe he likes divided government, too.  )

[280plus]

btw: did you notice the rise in the market today? they seem to like divided gov.

It actually seemed hesitant all day and only rose marginally near the end.

The Jihadists will hear all about it.  They take it as a sign that they're winning.  They'll redouble their efforts.  Right after they finish patting themselves on the back for influencing an American election. 

Face it, America, the terrorists won this round.  They got Spain to cave by bombing one of their trains.  Now they got America to cave by exploiting our own media and leftists.  They're winning, and it's nobody's fault but our own.

It's nice to know I'm not alone when I think like this. You're right, they've got us right where they want us, divided right down the middle. And I would venture they KNEW this would come about. They know us better than we know ourselves.

[Leatherneck]

It's looking more and more like Vietnam redux, brought to you by many of the very same people. I wish we had a hurly icon right now.

TC

[lumpy]

It actually seemed hesitant all day and only rose marginally near the end.

I guess my point was that the business world didn't end... although I'm not sure how long things will hold once gas starts going up again. but interestingly it rose marginally to another new high.

by the way, interesting article on Gates in the Congressional Quarterly... I'd forgotten that he's been nominated for the post before and withdrew over intelligence fixing issues.

http://www.cq.com/public/20061108_homeland.html

I'm guessing Rumsfeld resigned now so that Gates could get confirmed with this senate.

[Ezekiel]

It's looking more and more like Vietnam redux, brought to you by many of the very same people.

My friend, that's what it looked like from the beginning, except Nationalist and uber-patriotic tripe managed to cover most of the scent.

Rumsfeld learned nothing from McNamara, and Bush is incapable of learning...

Rummy resigned so he wouldn't get fired, and he would -- eventually -- get fired due to poor performance.

[Perd Hapley]

Um, he DID get fired.  You think it was his idea?

[The Rabbi]

It's looking more and more like Vietnam redux, brought to you by many of the very same people.

My friend, that's what it looked like from the beginning, except Nationalist and uber-patriotic tripe managed to cover most of the scent.

Rumsfeld learned nothing from McNamara, and Bush is incapable of learning...

Rummy resigned so he wouldn't get fired, and he would -- eventually -- get fired due to poor performance.

I lost count of the untruths, distortions, and outright absurdities after the word my.

[Perd Hapley]

Is there something wrong with being "Nationalist"?  What is even meant by that pejorative? 

[roo_ster]

fistful:

Yes, the blame-America-for-every-ill-in-the-world crowd uses the terms nationalist and nationalism in a pejorative manner.

The terms patriot & patriotism get similar treatment.

[roo_ster]

The American troops believe in the mission they serve. Interestingly, the Times [jfruser: see quote below]-- which does not back the Iraq war -- gives an extended forum for these men to express their support for their mission and the man who sent them there to complete it. They want to see Iraq succeed, and even now want to stay until it happens.

It's an interesting point of view, and one that may surprise many who claim that the best way to support the troops is to have them retreat. Will that "support" turn to scorn when they realize the troops want to stay? After all, these men will have openly endorsed the policy of forward engagement that critics find so objectionable.

If Ezekiel is any indication, the answer to the bolded portion is "Yes."

Half of America and the upper echelons of the US military may be cheering Donald Rumsfelds resignation from the post of Defence Secretary, but there was no rejoicing yesterday among those most directly affected by his decisions: the frontline soldiers in Iraq.

Troops expressed little pleasure at the departure of the man responsible for their protracted deployment to a hostile country where 2,839 of their comrades have died.

Indeed, some members of the 101st Airborne Division and other troops approached by The Times as they prepared to fly home from Baghdad airport yesterday expressed concern that Robert Gates, Mr Rumsfelds successor, and the Democrat-controlled Congress, might seek to wind down their mission before it was finished.

Mr Rumsfeld made decisions, he stuck with them and he did what he thought was right, whether people agreed with it, liked it, or not, Staff Sergeant Frank Notaro said. He insisted that Iraq was better off now than before the war.

Staff Sergeant Michael Howard said: Its a blow to the military. He was a good Secretary of Defence. He kept us focused. He kept the leaders focused. Its going to be hard to fill his shoes.

[peteinct]

I've never served in the military but from the press conferences I've seen I liked how Rumsfeld came across. He seemed articulate, intelligent, and not patient with idiotic questions. I think the "failures" in Iraq stem more from us and our political problems.

pete