The Democrats Gloat Thread

G.O.P. Hopeful Says Rumsfeld Should Resign

State Senator Thomas H. Kean Jr., the Republican nominee for United States Senate in New Jersey, says he is so frustrated with the Bush administration's handling of the war in Iraq that he is pushing for something that few Republicans have supported: the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.

In an interview at his campaign headquarters here, just shy of midnight on Friday, Mr. Kean said that he had become dissatisfied over the summer with what he said was Mr. Rumsfeld's refusal to consider "competing points of view."

But what compelled him to advocate publicly for a "fresh face" leading the troops, Mr. Kean said, were Mr. Rumsfeld's recent remarks chiding critics of the war for "moral and intellectual confusion," and comparing them to those who advocated appeasing Nazi Germany in the 1930's.

"By engaging in that kind of rhetoric, this secretary has stepped over the line," Mr. Kean said.

Mr. Kean stopped short of criticizing President Bush [and he] says he does not support a timetable for the withdrawal of American troops, because he thinks that could lead to a humanitarian crisis and destabilize the region.

Still, Mr. Kean's call for Mr. Rumsfeld to step down comes as more Republicans are distancing themselves, however gingerly, from Mr. Bush and an unpopular war.

Nowhere has this change of heart been more prevalent, perhaps, than in places where Republicans are engaged in close races. In Rhode Island, Stephen Laffey, a populist Republican who is challenging Senator Lincoln Chafee in a hotly contested primary, has called on Mr. Rumsfeld to resign. In Connecticut, Representative Christopher Shays recently changed his mind on a phased withdrawal and now supports a timetable, something that many Democrats have long advocated.

And then there is New Jersey, where Mr. Kean is locked in a tough fight with his Democratic opponent, Senator Robert Menendez. While Mr. Kean says that he would have voted for the original resolution authorizing the use of force, he agrees that the United States has made some "egregious mistakes."

As examples Mr. Kean cited the abuse of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib, what he called a poorly executed plan to purge Baathists from the Iraqi military and a lack of sufficient troops at the outset of the conflict. He said he was also stunned, earlier this year, by the number of retired generals who called for Mr. Rumsfeld's resignation. [..]

Well, if a New Jersey state senator has called for his resignation, you better believe it's going to get some attention now.

Ticomaya wrote:

Well, if a New Jersey state senator has called for his resignation, you better believe it's going to get some attention now.

Ehm.. are you not following the news about your own candidates? Kean is the guy who's running a high-profile campaign to become the New Jersey Senator in Congress.

He is actually standing a good chance too, against Menendez. They've been close or tied in many polls.

His race has been considered important enough for the Republicans for both Cheney and Bush Sr to come out to campaign for him.

I don't know what you mean by "your own candidates." I neither live nor vote in New Jersey.

Ticomaya wrote:

I don't know what you mean by "your own candidates." I neither live nor vote in New Jersey.

Republican candidates...

I mean, you normally seem to be pretty well-informed and eager to discuss any Republican achievements and issues, no matter where in the country they take place. Odd, the sudden claim of disinterest/ignorance.

I am a registered Republican, but I'm not sure I live up to the billing you're giving me. I do generally vote for Republicans, but not always, and I will always vote for the best candidate, IMO (9 times out of 10 it's the Republican). I've helped with the campaigns of various Democrat candidates over the years, and as a matter of fact, I'm campaigning for the Democrat candidate in the upcoming election for my State Representative.

You've misremembered aspects of my personality/character in the past .... do you suppose this is another example of that?

Ticomaya wrote:

I am a registered Republican, but I'm not sure I live up to the billing you're giving me. I do generally vote for Republicans, but not always, and I will always vote for the best candidate, IMO (9 times out of 10 it's the Republican). I've helped with the campaigns of various Democrat candidates over the years, and as a matter of fact, I'm campaigning for the Democrat candidate in the upcoming election for my State Representative.

I am very encouraged by your answer, Tico, if not perhaps for any reason you intended.

If even you, who have made something of a name here by consistently, and oftimes acerbically, arguing the Bush/Republican administration line in pretty much every political contention that has appeared on these boards over the years, with little but scorn for your opponents, and whom I have not caught in ever criticizing the Republican establishment and Bush administration on any issue of major import (at least not from the left) - now apparently experience a wish to clarify that you're not really all that tethered to the party - that, you know, you've campaigned for Democrats too; that those aren't, in fact, all bad - that surely is a hopeful sign! As hopeful as this sentence was overlong, in fact.

The situation must be worse than I would even have hoped. I mean, Tico - diplomatically taking the opportunity to point out that, you know, it can't actually be assumed that he always supports Republicans - a better illustration of the sudden need felt by even stalwart Republicans to burnish their "Indie" credentials that's covered in my other thread, I could not hope for.

Ticomaya wrote:

You've misremembered aspects of my personality/character in the past .... do you suppose this is another example of that?

I think I have quite a good handle on at least your online personality - not much ambiguity in how you present yourself here. How different you are IRL, of course, I can't possibly know. It would be silly to presume to know what a fellow debater here might be like face to face. You might well be a chummy, open-minded, tolerant, charitative, modest and respectful guy.

Ascerbic? Scornful? Moi?

What I've said here is truth, and what I have always said here on A2K when I have been asked about my voting tendencies. So, if you think this is a "sudden need" to "burnish my Indie cred," you are just plain mistaken.

In any case, I am indeed a friendly, open-minded, tolerant, modest and respectful guy IRL.