I suppose it’s possible for a Defense Secretary to come up with a worse response to questions about a disastrous war, I’m just not sure what it would be.
With his chorus of critics expanding deeper into Republican ranks, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told detractors yesterday to pull back as U.S. and Iraqi officials grapple with the uncertainties of laying out [tag]Iraq[/tag]’s course.
“You ought to just back off, take a look at it, relax, understand that it’s [tag]complicated[/tag], it’s difficult,” Rumsfeld said, appearing unusually combative as he sparred with reporters at the Pentagon. “Honorable people are working on these things together,” he said.
That’s persuasive, isn’t it? The fiasco in Iraq is “complicated,” so those of us worried about the future of the war and the lives of U.S. troops should just “back off” and “relax.” Rumsfeld, obviously, has it all covered. He’s done such a bang-up job thus far — what could possibly go wrong? He’s clearly proven himself to be reliable and credible, right?
Better yet, Rumsfeld also told reporters yesterday that when it comes to Iraq, Americans should “just sit back and enjoy the democracy that’s there.” Yes, he really said that.
The issue that set Rumsfeld off yesterday was Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s pronouncement that he doesn’t care for the Bush administration’s new talk about benchmarks and timetables. In a nationally televised news conference, Maliki said, “I affirm that this government represents the will of the people and no one has the right to impose a timetable on it…. The Americans have the right to review their policies, but we do not believe in a timetable, and no one will impose one on us.”
Rumsfeld was trying to explain that when Bush talks about implementing timetables, and Maliki talks about rejecting timetables, they’re actually saying the same thing. It wasn’t an easy sell — in large part because Rumsfeld’s argument is absurd — and led a frustrated Defense Secretary to wave off the entire issue as “complicated.”
He might as well have said, “Don’t bother me now; I’m still working on new ways to lie to everyone.”
No wonder Republicans are abandoning him in droves.
Justin Rood has been assembling a list of Republican office-holders or candidates who are publicly saying Rumsfeld has to go.
In a televised debate last night, Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) said Rumsfeld should be gone by now. “Secretary Rumsfeld offered his resignation on two separate occasions to the president of the United States,” Snowe said, according to her campaign office. “The president refused. If I had been in his place I would have accepted it.”
And in Kentucky, Rep. Anne Northup (R) told the Louisville Courier-Journal yesterday, “I don’t want to depend on the same team, meaning Rumsfeld.”
The two join incumbent Ohio Sen. Mike DeWine (R), Washington Senate hopeful Mike McGavick (R), New Jersey Senate hopeful Tom Kean, Jr. (R), Rep. Pat Tiberi (R-OH), and Rep. JoAnn Davis (R-VA), who have already said Rumsfeld should step down.
Moreover, there’s also Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.), Hawaii Senate hopeful Cynthia Thielen (R), and Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R-N.J.).
Maybe [tag]Rumsfeld[/tag] should just tell them to “[tag]relax[/tag]” and “sit back and enjoy the democracy that’s there.” That ought to work.