Rumsfeld the performing monkey

"Rumsfeld practiced the Chinese martial art Tai Chi Ch'uan during committee questioning, deflecting negative Democratic queries away from his embattled 'chi', or life-force..."

Fuckupallhopeofnormaldiplomaticrelationswithothercountries like an egyptian...

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/39027000/jpg/_39027407_abfab-bbc-203index.jpg

vs.

http://i.cnn.net/cnn/2004/ALLPOLITICS/02/04/sprj.nirq.rumsfeld.congress.ap/story.rumsfeld.ap.jpg

http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2004/US/02/06/military.assault/top.rumsfeld.ap.jpg

"I know in my heart and my brain that America ain't what's wrong with the world... to the extent that that's the case, only time will deal with that."

Er?

dude, people go for it. most of them are over the age of 60.

Just to touch why Lieberman is a stellar SoD pick:

Lieberman 12/6: "It is time for Democrats who distrust President Bush to acknowledge that he will be commander in chief for three more critical years and that in matters of war we undermine presidential credibility at our nation's peril." Murtha 12/7: "Undermining his credibility? What has he said that would give him credibility?

See, Rumsfeld should be the only guy to keep his job in the Bushco, because he is the most honest and trustworthy. Sad but true.

In a speech yesterday at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, Rumsfeld explained that he just really feels bad for the ink-stained wretches out there covering the war, and he doesn't blame them for getting it all wrong.

"For starters," he said, "it must be jarring for reporters to leave the United States, arrive in a country that is so different, where they have to worry about their personal safety, and then being rushed to a scene of a bomb -- car bomb -- or a shooting, and have little opportunity to see the rest of the country..."

Jules Crittenden: " Rumsfeld made the critical error four years ago of thinking he could do Iraq on the cheap. He thought he could fight a multifront war with a downsized, post-Cold War army. He thought he could, overnight, transform a politically and psychologically traumatized, ethnically divided nation. It is one thing to make mistakes, and another to fail to learn from them. It is time for someone who can make the case for Iraq without becoming the issue himself."

Ledeen: "I don't think that DoD is working as well as it should. On personnel, we can talk another time. But it's hard, I think, to argue that [Rumsfeld]'s surrounded himself with star-quality talent."

But here's the really interesting one -- the Military Times papers (Army Times, etc.) want him out. This isn't as truly shocking as if Stars and Stripes had somehow said as much, and the papers have run critical stories before, but given the papers' high popularity and readership among military members and dependents and family, it'll have an impact. The entire editorial is quoted in the second half of the story.

Back for the attack.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/08/01/us/01cnd_rums.500.jpg