November 08, 2006

Rumsfeld Resigning! No more words are needed...
posted by sugarmilktea 18 years ago
  • Dammit! (posted same thing just after)
  • To be fair Pete, your post has a nice flair to it. Though, I prefer my sidebar title... Chimpy just got bleeped! Hah! He's on the defensive here. Fun viewing indeed.
  • hehe what'd he get bleeped? Could you tell from the context?
  • Watching on the big 'ol work monitor here, but the volume is a bit low, so hard to tell. Everyone's laughing, saying he's TESTY! He sounds like a complete baboon as usual, if not worse.
  • *does a little dance*
  • Mmhh... does that mean the armed forces really are *that* displeased with the whole affair..? Maybe those rumors of a possible coup (or something akin to it) weren't that harebrained after all.
  • .
  • A little deuce coup?
  • He's running away, scared of having to deal with an unfriendly congress.
  • "Do not be fearful," Bush said in reference to Iraqis. "As you take the difficult steps toward democracy and peace, America's going to stand with you. We know you want a better way of life, and now is the time to seize it." Bush also expressed support for U.S. military personnel. "Don't be doubtful. America will always support you," the president said. "Our nation is blessed to have men and women who volunteer to serve and are willing to risk their own lives for the safety of our fellow citizens."
  • (pulled from eeked thread- it was a beauty post) There's an old Dutch saying, that 'he died years ago, he just forgot to lie down'. This man has been irrelevant for a very long time already. He was supposed to have resigned after the last election already, given some graceful time period to make it not too obvious, as Chimpy's sign that he 'heard the people', and would make concessions on the war. Mind you, Chimpy said immediately after he lost the popular vote the first time around that he understood the electorate was divided, and that he would govern in a spirit of cooperation. That attitude lasted exactly one press cycle, before Cheney go to work on installing the most partisan and corrupt administration of American history. I don't expect anything different this time around -- indeed, they'll be sure to suck the public trough for everything it's worth while they can. All that will be done is that Chimpy will be given credit for conciliation, even though it's something that he should have done ages ago. Worse still, everything gets to be blamed on the old guy, and the new guy can't be held to task for a situation he didn't create. So it's a cheap insurance policy and sham political shield, disguised as magnaminity. Pardon me if I don't celebrate. posted by Capt. Renault at 06:54PM UTC on November 08, 2006
  • Ding-Dong the WARlock is dead!
  • Heyyyy waitaminit, you stole this idea from over on MeFi! (which also points out the sputteritude of Bush's press conference.)
  • The effort to arm the Iraqis was “spearheaded” by CIA Director William Casey and involved his deputy, Robert Gates, according to Teicher’s affidavit. “The CIA, including both CIA Director Casey and Deputy Director Gates, knew of, approved of, and assisted in the sale of non-U.S. origin military weapons, ammunition and vehicles to Iraq,” Teicher wrote. Wow. Ironical.
  • Gloat gloat gloat gloat gloat! And dancing!
  • Well at least the new guy can deal with Iran. and the contras for that matter
  • Intelesting from over on the MeFi thread: This is Baker's first move? (i think it is--Bush doesn't listen to the people, nor to Congress) Bush must be totally humiliated that the family fixer had to step in again. posted by amberglow at 11:13 AM PST on November 8 Good point, and might explain the apparent and freakishly animated overacting by the POTUS at the press conference.
  • The Dems have been in power less than 24 hours, and already the world is a better place! *Dana Carvey Dance*
  • Wow. Ironical. To say the least. I'd like to think of it as the beginning of "what goes around, comes around..." Interesting days ahead of us, for sure, for sure.
  • I am sure this is bad news for the Democrats. Somehow.
  • Now the Don can spend more time working on his poetry to be set to music.
  • Just watched the CNN video clip. 2 things are striking: (a) He looks pissed-the-fuck-off. Did you see the way he flipped his written notes the first time? That was a "goddammit" move. (b) The smirky grin at the mention of "Bob" Gates says something. Maybe that he's an old family friend. I dunno. But I'm starting to think amberglow's onto something with the James-Baker-shuffle theory. Team Poppy in tha hizzy!
  • Gates is the president of Texas A&M University and a close friend of the Bush family. He served as director of the Central Intelligence for Bush's father from 1991 until 1993 I can only hope that the change in personnel might help. Otherwise, he's just another good ol' boy, who's a bush friend... who knew bush earlier... who came from texxis...
  • Oh yeah, this smells of the fixer.
  • He was on Tavis' show the other week, acting all smug because he knew what was going to happen with the war, but wouldn't tell us because something like that shouldn't influence our vote. Deciding the course of a war shouldn't be left up to ordinary people, it seems.
  • Before the media goes overboard extolling the virtues of Bob Gates as the replacement for Don Rumsfeld, it is important to look back at Gates' record and reputation. Gates has some "splaining" to do. The press has forgotten that Bob Gates, during his time at CIA, acquired a reputation for trying to tailor intelligence to satisfy political masters in the Reagan White House. Perfecto! He's just the guy for the job.
  • Yeah, there's a long line of creeps to replace any of the creeps who lose their jobs as a result of this election.
  • To be fair, deciding the course of an election wouldn't be left up to ordinary people in the Neocon model. I'm glad to see him go, but at 74? Really, discredited servants of the dark lord should have to depart in ignominy proportionate to the amount of time they have left to live. So, at 40 you just have to resign, and the remainder of your life spent in regret is punishment enough. At 74? Tarring and feathering on the steps of the White House. Maybe some monkey faeces.
  • "I remember talking to the South African analyst back in 1988, who told me about the time Bob Gates tried to change the lede on an intelligence piece, which argued that Nelson Mandela was NOT a communist. Gates wanted the lede to say that Mandela was a communist." Shades of Cheney's vote against the '86 House resolution calling for Mandela's release. Poifect! Why wasn't this guy named the first time around?
  • Yeah, but it's not like he lied about a blowjob or something. That's impeachable.
  • Maybe he lied when he admitted he lied.
  • Not sure how fair it is to call that a lie. It sounded to me like he was saying that last week he was planning on Rumsfeld leaving, but that all of the kinks had not yet been worked out. If that is the case, I think it is completely reasonable. He ought to be able to work out things with Rumsfeld, Cheney, Rice, Rove, Bates, etc before he has to announce it to the public.
  • Bob Gates, during his time at CIA, acquired a reputation for trying to tailor intelligence to satisfy political masters in the Reagan White House. I've heard this from Agency people too. Many people there remember him as being the person to really kick-start the politicisation of CIA estimates (in the telling-the-govt-what-it-wants-to-hear sense). Out of the frying pan, methinks.
  • GREAT news to wake up to here in Down Under land. One down.............
  • It wasn't that he was supposed to resign a while ago. He did resign. Bush rejected his resignation. He was too important to the was effort.
  • I stared at that "why is the rum gone?" image for like a minute before scrolling away from it, reading other posts, and then finally getting the joke. High five!
  • I think you mean the were effort.
  • the whore effort? Oh like you weren't thinking of it.
  • No... the effort to turn into howling, bloodthirsty parodies of humanity. The WERE effort.
  • So long as Cheney is still in power, I don't feel much safer.
  • How are the LGF guys dealing with this?
  • Little Green Farkers?
  • This morning on CNN, some guy was explaining that these elections have just hurt the War on Terra. I think that explains BushCo's actions pretty damn good. He hasdeclared a War on Terra.
  • How are the LGF guys dealing with this? Not well.
  • "We know where they are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat."
  • "He did resign. Bush rejected his resignation." This is what Rumsfeld *claimed*. Why would you believe him?
  • From homunculus's MeFi link: ...the whole thing needs to be read as a whole to understand where the threats to our current democracy lie: not with the politicians, but for the sad, stupid, scared populace. Man, he ain't kiddin'. Behold: --I think this demostrates pretty clearly that voting should be a privilege, NOT a right. --This is crap. We are sure in for it. I suppose that's what it will take. Adios. --You may have right and logic on your side, but there's going to be American blood on the asphalt soon because of tonight, and one vote's worth of that blood is gonna be on your head. --A 'spin-free' NYT headline tomorrow should read "Burka sale at Harrod's coming to Macy's! Get your exquisitely embroidered hajib and burka right now and show up your liberal friends!" .
  • Well, those are the blurst of the nutcases.
  • They're just pure scum. No surprises there, unfortunately the human race does comprise quite a lot of pure scumbags.
  • The elephant in the room about the wingnut dissatisfaction with Bush and the Iraq war is that they are dissatisfied not that we went to war, but that we didn't use enough bombs indiscriminately.
  • Note to Colin Powell: Rummy is gone, and you can reclaim your balls at the Pentagon, during business hours.
  • It is true that in any given large population of mammals, there's bound to be a lot of nasty fuckers.
  • Rummy wants 'history to judge' his legacy Oh, it will, it will. To be strictly accurate, I think he actually said he would let history worry about his legacy. Oh, it will, it will.
  • On November 14, the Center for Constitutional Rights, the National Lawyers Guild, and other organizations will ask the German federal prosecutor to initiate a criminal investigation into the war crimes of Rumsfeld and other Bush administration officials. Although Bush has immunized his team from prosecution in the International Criminal Court, they could be tried in any country under the well-established principle of universal jurisdiction. Hey Rummy, let's go to Germany for . umm . . Oktoberfest! Surrrre! C'mon get on the plane! It'll be fun! C'maaaaaan!
  • He'll never go. Germany is 'old Europe'.
  • This is what Rumsfeld *claimed*. Why would you believe him? I can't tell, are you saying Rumsfeld didn't try to resign, or that there was a different reason for the rejection of his resignation? Or something else entirely?
  • I don't care about any of this. Rumsfelds leaving is just a party favor. I'm doing a little dance, little dance, little dance all about being happy for the first time in 6 fucking years. I even hung an American flag. Yea, mean little disaffected me hung an American flag. Had to learn a new skill. Had to drill into brick. I did a good job, too. I mean, if the system actually works, you should make sure all the screws are tight. Please let my idiotic joy last just little bit longer.
  • >>Please let my idiotic joy last just little bit longer. Yea brother, well spoken. Mine too.
  • I can't tell, are you saying Rumsfeld didn't try to resign, or that there was a different reason for the rejection of his resignation? Or something else entirely? Relax, he's just saying that after all the lying why would anyone believe a single thing Rumsfeld has to say.
  • Wha-wha-wha-whaaaat??
  • Lovely.
  • I'm surprised you're surprised. Let's see what the new Fuck-Up does, and we'll ALL be surprised!
  • Gates: Failure in Iraq would 'haunt' U.S. "But as the president has made clear, we simply cannot afford to fail in the Middle East. Failure in Iraq at this juncture would be a calamity that would haunt our nation, impair our credibility, and endanger Americans for decades to come." Wow, how did we get ourselves in such a mess? Why didn't anyone warn us that this illegal, immoral, ill-conceived clusterfuck of a disaster would threaten to impair our credibility?? Y'know who would know what to do? Don Rumsfeld, boy, he'd go after 'em with a singing-cobra double-grip! Hai! And the Osaka basket-clutch! Ha! Heavens to Betsy!
  • Donald Rumsfeld, architect of the unpopular Iraq war, resigned as defense secretary before last year's November election but his decision was not announced until after the voting, according to his resignation letter obtained by Reuters on Wednesday.
  • Chicanery at the White House? What? I, for one, am shocked and appalled, blah blah blah.
  • Chicanery in the White House? *slaps hands to sides of face in shocked surprise
  • I'm ready for news from Iraq/Afghanistan that we didn't know prior to 50.1% of sh*theads voting for ShrubCo. II