"For Bush To Fire RUMMY Is Bush Declaring Himself A Failure" - Joe Conason

[kpete]

“For Bush To Fire Rumsfeld Is For Bush To Declare Himself A Failure As President”…
NY Observer | Joe Conason | April 19, 2006 at 08:47 AM

READ MORE: George W. Bush, Iraq

Bush Hears Voices,
But Does He Listen?
By Joe Conason

“I hear the voices, and I read the front page, and I know the speculation,” said the President of the United States, sounding as peevish as a toddler banging his silver spoon on the high chair. “But I’m the decider, and I decide what’s best. And what’s best is for Don Rumsfeld to remain as the Secretary of Defense.”

By reminding everybody that he is “the decider,” George W. Bush no doubt hoped to stifle embarrassing protests from a growing corps of retired officers such as General Anthony Zinni, who believe that the war in Iraq has been ruinously botched and that the Secretary of Defense should retire. But his defensive outburst only drew attention to the most deserving target of criticism: himself.

While the frustrated generals named Mr. Rumsfeld in their complaint, they clearly aimed at Mr. Bush. They know that the Commander in Chief was implicated, from the beginning, in every bad decision perpetrated by the Pentagon civilian leadership. They understand why the President cannot take their advice to dump Rummy, as Brookings Institution military analyst Michael O’Hanlon pointed out: “For Bush to fire Rumsfeld is for Bush to declare himself a failure as president.”

http://www.observer.com/20060424/20060424_Joe_Conason_opinions_conason.aspLA

[flpoljunkie]

1. K&R!

[bryant69]

2. This is accurate

I mean he could still claim his domestic victories such as they are, but he's been focused on fighting the War on Terror and making that the centerpiece of his presidency for a while now.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[C_U_L8R]

3. Bush declared himself a failure

a long long time ago...
can anyone name a single achievement
or even one small good deed
the creep-in-chief has ever accomplished ???

[abluelady]

4. You and I know That

And I keep trying to figure out what the freepers think he has accomplished for America in the past six years.

[exlrrp]

5. The Buck Starts There

Conason is right--firing Rumsfeld, or even accepting his resignation under duress, would be a major admission by Bush that the war has gone wrong, went wrong from the start.
This Bush will NEVER do. Once upon a time, there was a golden opportunity for Bush to accomplish his goals, that opportunity died in Abu Ghraib and ever since. The moment has passed long aggo and now there's really nothing for Bush to do but fight a delaying action untill (Thank God!) he is replaced.
Bush will never backtrack on his views of the war, to admit even the smallest mistake would be a chink in the armor that would lead to the crumbling of the whole thing.
Bush is a President at war and is not about to admit any fault with the way he's run the war, to do so would admit the loss of American lives was his mistake. You'll see Bush wearing pink lingerie in public before this happens.
Actually the talk about Rumsfeld does Bush good--it takes the heat for the war's fuckups off of him, which is a primary goal of his administration: cover Bush's ass at all times.

[Flubadubya]

6. How about this link...

http://www.observer.com/20060424/20060424_Joe_Conason_politics_joeconason.asp

This one takes me directly to the article... to OPs takes me to a search page. :shrug: