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Rumsfeld on the Rack

 
 
Reply Wed 10 Sep, 2003 12:58 pm
There are rumblings on Capitol Hill about firing Rumsfeld. Will he be heaped on the pile of sacrificial lambs for the administration -- not to mention those who have already thrown themselves onto the altar?
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Type: Discussion • Score: 2 • Views: 2,326 • Replies: 34
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mamajuana
 
  1  
Reply Wed 10 Sep, 2003 01:17 pm
I guess it depends. All that talk about White House loyalty was just that - talk. I think Bush's difficulty is that if he dumps Rumsfeld, who then? There don't seem to be many clamoring for the job.
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Frank Apisa
 
  1  
Reply Wed 10 Sep, 2003 01:35 pm
I guess anything is possible -- but it seems to me that Rumsfeld is more likely to dump Dubya than the other way around.

I gotta admit, though, that Dubya has allowed Rumsfeld to look like a jerk recently -- making a mid-course correction that deviated toward Powell and State over Rummy.

The part that is particularly interesting is that a lot of Petagon brass sided with Powell.
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Lightwizard
 
  1  
Reply Wed 10 Sep, 2003 01:59 pm
Aha, but the Machiavalian way would be to get him to resign for appearances. Politicians are lopped of in a democratic society not much differently than in a totalitarian society. Behind closed doors. Of course, the big difference is that the one who is ousted shows up among the living again!

I agree with you Frank about Powell -- he's now being considered more of an asset and they need him desperately to convince the U.N. and other nations to change their minds.
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cicerone imposter
 
  1  
Reply Wed 10 Sep, 2003 01:59 pm
Rummy is not exactly loved by the military brass, especially the army. Rather than concentrating on whether Bush fires Rummy, we gotta put our efforts into making sure they're all fired.
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joefromchicago
 
  1  
Reply Wed 10 Sep, 2003 02:23 pm
Well, there may be dissension among the neo-cons and the supply siders, but this is largely a squabble among the nodding-head dittorati that inhabit the closed world of conservative think tanks and the Murdoch-owned media. I can't believe that Bush would be so stupid . . . wait, I thought I'd never type those words ever.

Let me start over: I can't believe that Bush's handlers (yeah, that's better) would be so stupid as to dump Rumsfeld while the war/not-war is still going on/winding up. It would be an implicit admission that Rumsfeld, and hence the administration, screwed up. I think there's a better chance that Powell will be toppled in some kind of back-stairs coup.
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au1929
 
  1  
Reply Wed 10 Sep, 2003 02:49 pm
Truman said the buck stops here. Bush on the other hand says the buck stops anywhere but here. In reality one can't fault him for after all he is just taking orders.
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Lightwizard
 
  1  
Reply Wed 10 Sep, 2003 03:52 pm
It's the borrow and spend party and Rummy's war on the cheap ends up meaning more notes with interest against the U.S. What will the average citizen think when he realizes that tax cut was only a loan to be paid back with interest when the government starts running out of money? Maybe the Fab Five can step in and give them some good instructions on how to paper the world.
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cicerone imposter
 
  1  
Reply Wed 10 Sep, 2003 04:00 pm
LW, I always had the impression that the democrats were the big spenders. The growth in government under Bush has exceeded all past and future government growth. The worst part of all this is that the future generation of workers are gonna be paying on this debt. Can you immagine what's gonna happen when the retired folks far exceeds those in the work force in about ten years, and they're still paying for this deficit? I'm keeping my investment in bonds. I see double digit returns com'n.
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Lightwizard
 
  1  
Reply Wed 10 Sep, 2003 04:01 pm
Bonds. Good idea.
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hobitbob
 
  1  
Reply Wed 10 Sep, 2003 04:19 pm
If,and it is a humongous if, Rummy gets tossed, the next one would be (she turned me into a) Newt. He seems to be waiting in the wings for a cabinet positioin,and I have seen speculation that he may replace Powell as SOS afetr a successful election, since by then public opinion will cease to count for anything. He is certainly in lock step with the rest of the neo-cons.
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blueveinedthrobber
 
  1  
Reply Wed 10 Sep, 2003 05:05 pm
Frank I respectfully disagree with your statement that GWB has allowed Rummy to look like an asshole......Rummy needs no help in that respect at all.......
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Lightwizard
 
  1  
Reply Wed 10 Sep, 2003 05:23 pm
Hobitbob -- you're saying Bush could kiss the Newt and turn him into a toad?
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Lightwizard
 
  1  
Reply Wed 10 Sep, 2003 05:26 pm
(That doesn't sound right unless Newt is jumping to conclusions).
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hobitbob
 
  1  
Reply Wed 10 Sep, 2003 08:21 pm
Lightwizard wrote:
(That doesn't sound right unless Newt is jumping to conclusions).

Laughing
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Italgato
 
  1  
Reply Wed 10 Sep, 2003 08:46 pm
Item: US NEWS and WORLD REPORT- Sept. 8, 2003

quote

"Add two more cabinet officers to the growing list of agency heads expected to bail if President Bush is re-elected. Senior officials tell us that Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge and Attorney General John Ashcroft will join CIA director George Tenet. Secretary of State Colin Powell, and maybe Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld out the door. Two reasons are given. First: burnout from fighting the war on terror. Second: Government pay stinks.

end of quote


For those who have law degrees, the average compensation for a partner in a law firm now makes close to $600,000 a year.

I would leave too.
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cicerone imposter
 
  1  
Reply Wed 10 Sep, 2003 08:57 pm
Yeah, Screw up the whole works, then run.
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hobitbob
 
  1  
Reply Wed 10 Sep, 2003 08:57 pm
Considering Powell isn't an attorney (I don't know about the rest), that isn't much of an arguement.
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cicerone imposter
 
  1  
Reply Wed 10 Sep, 2003 08:58 pm
I pity the people that have to clean up all the mess this administration created.
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hobitbob
 
  1  
Reply Wed 10 Sep, 2003 09:07 pm
Rummy:Rummy's Life
Quote:
Mr. Rumsfeld attended Princeton University on academic and NROTC scholarships (A.B., 1954) and served in the U.S. Navy (1954-57) as an aviator and flight instructor. In 1957, he transferred to the Ready Reserve and continued his Naval service in flying and administrative assignments as a drilling reservist until 1975. He transferred to the Standby Reserve when he became Secretary of Defense in 1975 and to the Retired Reserve with the rank of Captain in 1989.

In 1957, he came to Washington, DC to serve as Administrative Assistant to a Congressman. After a stint with an investment banking firm, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois in 1962, at the age of 30, and was re-elected in 1964, 1966, and 1968.

Mr. Rumsfeld resigned from Congress in 1969 during his fourth term to join the President's Cabinet. From 1969 to 1970, he served as Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity and Assistant to the President. From 1971 to 1972, he was Counsellor to the President and Director of the Economic Stabilization Program. In 1973, he left Washington, DC, to serve as U.S. Ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Brussels, Belgium (1973-1974).

In August 1974, he was called back to Washington, DC, to serve as Chairman of the transition to the Presidency of Gerald R. Ford. He then became Chief of Staff of the White House and a member of the President's Cabinet (1974-1975). He served as the 13th U.S. Secretary of Defense, the youngest in the country's history (1975-1977).

From 1977 to 1985 he served as Chief Executive Officer, President, and then Chairman of G.D. Searle & Co., a worldwide pharmaceutical company. The successful turnaround there earned him awards as the Outstanding Chief Executive Officer in the Pharmaceutical Industry from the Wall Street Transcript (1980) and Financial World (1981). From 1985 to 1990 he was in private business.

Mr. Rumsfeld served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of General Instrument Corporation from 1990 to 1993. General Instrument Corporation was a leader in broadband transmission, distribution, and access control technologies. Until being sworn in as the 21st Secretary of Defense, Mr. Rumsfeld served as Chairman of the Board of Gilead Sciences, Inc., a pharmaceutical company.

Before returning for his second tour as Secretary of Defense, Mr. Rumsfeld chaired the bipartisan U.S. Ballistic Missile Threat Commission, in 1998, and the U.S. Commission to Assess National Security Space Management and Organization, in 2000.

Tenet:Tenet's Life
Quote:
Mr. Tenet served as the Deputy Director of Central Intelligence, having been confirmed in that position in July 1995. Following the departure of John Deutch in December 1996, he served as Acting Director.

Mr. Tenet previously served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Intelligence Programs at the National Security Council. While at the NSC, he coordinated Presidential Decision Directives on ''Intelligence Priorities,'' ''Security Policy Coordination,'' ''US Counterintelligence Effectiveness,'' and ''US Policy on Remote Sensing Space Capabilities.'' He also was responsible for coordinating all interagency activities concerning covert action.

Prior to serving at the National Security Council, he served on President Clinton's national security transition team. In this capacity, he coordinated the evaluation of the US Intelligence Community. Mr. Tenet also served as Staff Director of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence for over four years under the chairmanship of Senator David Boren. In this capacity he was responsible for coordinating all of the Committee's oversight and legislative activities including the strengthening of covert action reporting requirements, the creation of a statutory Inspector General at CIA, and the introduction of comprehensive legislation to reorganize US intelligence.

Prior to his appointment as Staff Director, Mr. Tenet directed the Committee's oversight of all arms control negotiations between the Soviet Union and the United States, culminating in the preparation of a report to the US Senate on ``The Ability of US Intelligence to Monitor the Intermediate Nuclear Force Treaty.'' Mr. Tenet came to the Committee in August of 1985, as designee to the Vice Chairman, Senator Patrick Leahy, after working three years on the staff of Senator John Heinz as both a legislative assistant covering national security and energy issues and as legislative director.

Mr. Tenet holds a B.S.F.S. from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service and an M.I.A. from the School of International Affairs at Columbia University.

Only Ridge and Ashcroft are attorneys.
Rummy is a robber baron with delusions of aristocracy, and Tenet is a professional who was turned by the opposition.
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