Bush wimps out too quickly and we’re been seeing evidence of the fact that he never was a conservative.

Unless the Republican Party finds its conservative soul and choses candidates who are both articulate and courageous, our slide into the dustbowl of history is assured.

We are the generations who must secure the blessings of liberty and security to those who come behind us, just as was done for us. It will be our shame to have failed to do so.

Actually, it’s Craig Ferguson with an assist from Rumsfeld: ……

THAT is a FACT.

Sandbagged, my Aunt Fanny.

What really matters is that two days before the election, President Bush said very forcefully the equivalent of:

READ MY LIPS: NO NEW SecDef!

He publicly assured us that Rumsfeld was there for two more years no matter what.

The day after the election Rumsfeld is fired.

I would be more inclined to believe that after the election, Rumsfield told Bush, “With this election result, I can not continue as SecDef.”

I believe cabinet members serve at the pleasure of the President.

That is not the point. I believe that everyone knows, and agrees, that the President should decide who he wants in his cabinet. It is the incredibly inept way that President Bush made the change that is the point. Especially seeing how the average service member supports Secretary Rumsfield (not all, of course, but a large majority).

Finding out that he was being fired (no other word for it) on the evening news, rather than directly from the President (if that is how it happened) must have been devastating.

That said, if this story is true, then Pres. Bush has sealed his “legacy” doom. If the story is not true, Novak is a duplicitous prick!

Whether Rumsfeld knew of his coming sacking, forcing him out a day after the elections is incredibly tacky and sugggests a surrender to his critics in the Democratic Party.

…(a scapegoat for) the disastrous largely self-inflected wounds suffered by the Republicans in the election, has definitely eroded the loyalty of base — ptolemy

Nailed it.

Novak be damned, punditry be damned. If this had been a work-in-progress with Mr. Rumsfeld’s full cooperation for weeks prior to the news breaking, it was still a slap at the base — which may’ve wanted Rummy out as much as the Dems — because of its timing.

Rummy was thrown under the bus. Period.

The subsequent missteps of putting Mel in as RNC yes-man-in-charge, his utterances vis-a-vis the border and immigration “reform”, and his general tenor since his party gave the election away with both hands confirms this to me. Rove be damned into the bargain. This was dispicable.

Rumsfeld was a living sacrifice given to the Party of Treason at the first opportunity…which has only, as Rush predicted, whetted their appetites for more blood. Will *THEY* then surrender Will “The Fridge” Jefferson to justice? Will the Dems calm down the rhetoric about impeachment, reimposing the draft, and generally ruining this country? Rumsfeld was red meat to them, and energized *THEIR* base at the expense of what had, until that point, been a very loyal and ver circumspect base for the Republicans.

I don’t think that the Republicans should be able to count on *ANYTHING* anymore. From now on in, everything has its price.

IF he had continued to support Rummy, than there would have been a REAL debate about Iraq, with a spokesman the American people like, but Congress, the Left, and the Press, HATE. The continuing cycle of sound bites coming out of the “hearings” in Congress (where they have the home feild adavantage) could have been devastating to Bush’s “legacy”…. or…. could have saved it.

In the last year, Bush has NOT defended his policy in Iraq, so either he no longer beleives in it and is fianlly getting a clue, or his handlers have really miscalculated. The Americans people re-elected the “Cowboy” “Axis of Evil” calling it like it is President… not this wimp we now have in office….

IMO he threw Rummy overboard, right after saying he supported him fully…. and would keep him… I would not be suprised if Novak is correct… this decision was NOT made prior to the election, otherwise it would have been announced before the election (maybe saving it… sigh).

The more I look at it… the more I think Novak may be correct.

Would we say Donald Rumsfeld was actually popular with the people here at home? How was his popularity with the military folks who actually do the work, stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan. I am not asking about how popular the war is and if people want to be in the military serving the country.

Bush’s firing of Rumsfled, who was a scapegoat for Iraq problems and the disastrous largely self-inflected wounds suffered by the Republicans in the election, has definitely eroded the loyalty of base

Rummy’s a sharp guy, and was well aware that the political waters he swam in were shark infested, and that replacing him as a political matter has been a possibility for quite some time. As long as he’s served Bush, I have a hard time believing that Bush would disrespect him like that.

But I’m sure around here there are more than enough kooks to buy it. Jorge Arbusto rides again eh gang? The Mexican Invasion continues unabated and Jorge is busy making a permanent enemy of one of his closest, most trusted allies. Ther takin’ ar JAWDs! Im-Peech! Im-Peech! Im-Peech!

This place is goin’ down the rabbit hole fast.

Sadly, I think there’s some grim wisdom behind what I suspect will continue to be the President’s plan: Give the Democrats everything they demand, then, in two years, see if the American people are still happy with the product they’ve bought.