Wait! Wait! Stay the Course!
I am horrified all of a sudden. I am reading here and there how the Army Times, the Air Force Times, the Navy Times, and the Marine Corps Times are all publishing their editorials this next Monday — oh my goodness! it's the day before the election! it must be politically motivated! — calling for Don Rumsfeld's resignation. It all sounds like a good idea.
Then the terrifying, Rovian realization hits one: getting rid of Rumsfeld could be good for the Idiot-in-Chief. On no!
The obvious argument, which I'd as soon cut off at the knees right here, goes like this. All W has to do is fire Rumsfeld, then withdraw troops from Iraq and claim defeat, explaining that we were winning, we were staying the course — as Don had pointed out over and over — until those nasty old hate-America-first liberals forced W to fire Don and thus lose the war in Iraq.
Oh dear. On the one hand, W would win by losing; on the other hand, we might actually hasten the end to Bush's War of Vanity* and save some lives. Now it's all so confusing.
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*I could, I suppose, call it W's War of Vanity, but Republicans got us into this mess largely through throwing a hard-on at the idea of creating their own political dynasty with the Bush family — a manifestly stupid idea, and I'm peevish enough a person — that it seems suitable to use the Bush name whenever mentioning the debacle in Iraq. (I'm almost inclined to write "the Debacle in Iraqle" just for the Ogden-Nash-like poetry of it.)
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on Sunday, 5 November 2006 at 05.03
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The Rev. James Dobson could call on Bush to dump Rumsfeld and I'm quite sure that, at most, Bush would make some whiny reference to the effect, "I hear the voices . . ."
Bush (Cheney, too, undoubtedly) doesn't want Rumsfeld off trying to unsully his name by giving interviews and writing magazine articles and/or a book. Also, I'm sure Bush sees keeping Rumsfeld on as a combination test of will and display of loyalty. Plus, there's surely some perverse enjoyment for Bush in knowing so many who oppose his politics and especially his war are greatly annoyed by Rumsfeld's continued "service."
One other thing bears mentioning. Rumsfeld looks like he's aged seven years in the past year. All the harsh criticism and ill will could be taking a toll on his health as well as his spirits, which could result in his being let go before it's time for Bush to go.
Should Rumsfeld go, the interesting question arises, who would want to step into Rumsfeld's position for the last two years of a failed presidency, overseeing a godawful debacle? I suspect some Brand-X undersecretary, possibly one on the cusp of retirement anyway, would be dragooned — with a mandate to consult Deadeye Dick before doing anything of real consequence.
on Sunday, 5 November 2006 at 12.58
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I'm certain that there will always be people willing to step into a job of no-small power and influence like Secretary of Defense, even if it is to work the last two years of the idiot-in-chief's lame-duck, failed presidency.
I think that Bush himself is one of those who takes perverse pleasure in knowing he's so opposed on the question of Rumsfeld. He seems to be one of those who's convinced that if he's opposed on some issue that he must be doing something right.