Top of the http://news.yahoo.com/ link is a long banner:
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to step down.
Whaaaaa?
A short story here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/rumsfeld_resigns
Republican officials say Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is stepping down. Word comes a day after the Democratic gains in the election, in which Rumsfeld was a focus of much of the criticism of the Iraq war.
More:
Bush is LIVE on ABC News now. Link is on the http://news.yahoo.com page.
“Rumsfeld has been patriot, served our country…asked Bob Gates to serve as interim…if confirmed by the senate…brings 25 years experience…first hand knowledge at the CIA..steady solid leader, make adjustments to the current…during time of change…do not be joyful..do not confuse the working of democracy with our will…people of Iraq…America is going to stand with you…now is the time to seize it…men and women in uniform…our nation is blessed to have…confident we can work together…overcome the temptation to divide the nation by red and blue…cooperation…make these next two years…”
Little Green Footballs thread here..
**updated**
In response to the comments, Bush seems relaxed and actually relieved. I think you’re right. He’s finally got the weight of this election off his shoulders. I haven’t see Bush speak at one of these in a long time and today he regained a few points of my once nearly lost respect and hopes. Yea, he flubs. Yea, he’s not a college talker.
But he speaks honestly, straight and to the point. That is why he won my vote in 2004.
It’s been 7 hours now Nancy. why are you dragging your heels. we’re still in Iraq. Get on with the cut and run already, we don’t have forever. sheeess….
Senator Lieberman….paging senator Lieberman…..White House calling….
You always need a sacrificial lamb. I’m not sure that Bush’s choice for succesor, ex CIA chief Robert Gates, is a good choice.
– Hmmmm…. Robert Gates tapped as the new Sec Def…..CIA bigwig…..Interesting….
This press conference is going amazingly well!
Bush only tripped over his tongue serverly once so far.
Well in some ways the press is sort of fucked. Now that the Dems are in charge, they can’t ankle bite anymore, so they’re down to hammering on the Pres. about the so called “change in direction”.
– That won’t last long, because the next thing on the agenda is to start demanding some real answers from the Dems. I’m sure, based on all of their “clear plans” they’ve been so willing to voice in the past year, particularly on Iraq, they’re really looking forward to that baptism by reality. I know I am.
A little flub here and there. Stay steaddyyyy!
– Actually Bush looks a bit relieved, if anything. Obviously the pressures of it all have been hanging heavy over his head. He looks very much more “upbeat” than I think the press expected. It’s almost as if he’s sort of laughing in retrospect. “Alright you dumb ass’s. You wanted it, now you’ve got it. good luck with that”.
This is the only upside. I want to hammer on them constantly. They’ve had years to get those great plans together. I’m sure they must be really good by now.
Aw crap. I liked Rumsfeld – he got handed a dulled instrument and sharpened it up nicely. By 2001 we had experienced 5 straight years of lower numbers of qualified NG officers, and we were having big retntion troubles starting in 1998.
Guess this means a return to clunky, vote buying weapons like the Seawolf and Paladin…
To any that didn’t like him, I must say that I literally bet my life on his effectiveness in 2004-2005.
– well Major, such is the vagarities of the political season. rummy was in a no-win situation, since we couldn’t play the “imstant” gratification game, the Dems were so enamoured with in their quest for power. The problem for the Dems, and one they will shortly face, is they’ve set themselves up for a real massive cluster fuck, if they turn out to be empty suits in terms of real solutions. For myself, I see even more upticks in terrorist actions, hoping to make it a clean sweep of political embarrassment for both sides of the aisle.
– Hopefully I’m wrong, and it will turn out the Dems actually do have more thoughtful answers than “No”, but somehow I doubt it.
Success is the best retort, and Rumsfeld couldn’t deliver it in Iraq. Maybe no one could’ve, but still… Let’s hope his positive legacy lasts, like Major John says.
Is Condi next?
They’re mutant seabass.
Success is defined in retrospect. Immediate gratification is what we demand. Which is why the West is being lost.
Hear, hear, Jeff. Somewhere around here I’ve got my copy of John Julius Norwich’s History of Venice.
What would happen if the DoD emptied out and Nancy was forced to subpoena citizens for her circus? Not that he would, but could Rumsfeld just show up and tell Nancy, “Suck my dick, you stupid cunt.�
Contempt might have an upside…
burrhog–
Geez, I wonder what makes her so easy to imagine wearing a ringmistress’s suit?
– On that theme, it was hard to not notice that among the talking head Dems success speaches this morning, there seemed to be a common thread of bipartisan effort, and a hope to reach out to Rrepublicans for “idea’s”. I’m hoping that doesn’t mean what I think it does, reffering to my previous posts.
– The good news is, this serves notice to the Reps; This is what happens when you sit back and rest on your laurels, stubbornly ignoring the wants of mainstream voters. In the bigger picture, it also sets the stage for a massive comeback in ‘08, if the Republicans get back to their principles, and stop acting like poopy heads. In that sense it’s probably exaactly what the party needed to wake them up.
Rumsfeld is a fine man. I’m glad he did the job he did. It’s been one of the smartest wars in history. Bush is also a fine man. The bottom-feeders who are attacking them are not worth a single hair on their heads.
-this is my worry as well. Will Gates let Pentagon planning/spending shift back to planning for some Straights of Taiwan showdown decades from now (Monkyboy would certainly be happy about that), or will Gates continue to work to build an army that actually does what the army has been doing for about the last 15 years (relief missions, peacekeeping, nation building)?
Seriously, what authority does congress have over private citizens? What penalties would someone face for telling a congressional hearing to buzz off?
I suspect that Nancy will confine her hearings to reviews of DoD paperwork and members of the State Department. Even Nancy is smart enough to know that Rumsfeld would clean her clock if he was unrestrained by the fact that he no longer represented the administration.
Rumsfeld should show up to any hearings wearing one of these.
Bob Gates is the subject of this month’s cover story in Texas Monthly, a story that focuses on his goals for Texas A&M University. The story reveals how Gates was on the verge of accepting the position of Director of National Intelligence when it was created, but decided not to because of how much he had grown to love Texas A&M and how much he felt he could accomplish there. If true, that anecdote begs the question, “Why would Gates relinquish a position he loves and accept an appointment as SecDef that most assuredly will not last more than two years?” Couple that with the fact that, absent significant progress, Iraq will be an albatross around the GOP’s neck in 2008, and I think it’s possible we might see a significant increase in the tempo of our efforts against the insurgency. Gates told the A&M regents when he interviewed for the job that he is an agent of change. Maybe that’s why Bush tapped him.
And only the promoted immediate gratification of a “win” in Iraq. By pulling the plug. Like it’s a video game.
What the Left really wants is the immediate, enraged gratification of simple political revenge. It’s not about ideology because even they know they don’t have one.
The Democrats have walked (or been pushed by a portion of conservative America) into their absolute worst nightmare: Accountability for the West vis a vis Iraq and the mideast. Assuming we survive, history will still flay them alive.
I give em 60 days before the silence and stone-cold fear will be palpable. They’re holding a loaded howitzer, facing reality.