Rummy, Take A Powder

And he dares to compare this fiasco in Iraq to the battle for Iwo Jima in World War II (link here)…

So you don’t believe the stories from the reporters provide “context,” Mr. Secretary? Maybe it’s because you’ve ordered our fine service people to provide nothing to them except boilerplate about how well everything is supposed to be going. Please forgive the poor reporters who are getting killed all over the place for trying to do their jobs (which you hypocritically note “must be difficult” a sentence or two after your original slam at them).

Better bloggers than I have made a convincing case for the proposition that Rumsfeld should no longer have a job because of how he has managed this war (“managed” is a charitable way to put it for him as far as I’m concerned). I think that’s why, periodically, Bushco starts some media buzz along the lines of replacing him every now and then just to see how people react (I was hooked in myself a little while back). A day or so ago, Think Progress (via Atrios) noted that that solid Democrat (ugh) Joe Lieberman could be tabbed to take over for Rummy, since he’s as zombified on the outcome of Iraq as anyone else in this clueless administration.

When will Rumsfeld be replaced? Tomorrow? Next Week? Never? I have no idea. I will only say this; practically all politicians make decisions on the basis of whether or not they’ll win popular support over them versus how much they’ll lose, as we know (the whole “risk/reward” thing). I say “most” because the people in Bushco aren’t completely acting like typical politicians; since they’re so beholden to “the base,” they won’t do ANYTHING that offends that constituency. I believe Bushco’s die-hard supporters would see terminating Rummy as a betrayal more than anything else, and that is why he won’t go anywhere (now, watch me get proven wrong tomorrow…).

However, in the event that somehow Rummy does get shown the door, here is my candidate to replace him (I tried to set up John McCain for it earlier as mentioned in the prior post I linked to above, and color me embarrassed on a couple of different levels for that).