Rummy's Ruminations

This story is a few days old, but I think it speaks volumes about the Bush(whacked) Administration…

Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld gave an extensive interview with GQ magazine recently and had some very interesting and enlightening things to say.

Ignoring for the moment that he said he had no regrets, he said this about the war in Afghanistan;

“Look at Afghanistan. In Afghanistan, 28 million people are free. They have their own president, they have their own parliament. Improved a lot on the streets. […] “It’s been a big success!”

Um… okay… though I guess if you compare the Afghan war to the Iraq war it’s been, in his words, a “big success”.. but is it really?Well, if you decide to do something radical and, I don’t know, look at facts, it’s far from being a success and instead remains an abandoned war on terrorism… consider:

Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan’s president said recently that the level of security in his country has “definitely deteriorated”, but a former national security official called that “a very diplomatic understatement.”
The Taliban has carried out “103 suicide bombings in Afghanistan in the first eight months of 2007”, which is an increase from last year of 69%
For the second straight year Afghanistan has “produced record levels of opium” thanks to a “staggering 45 percent increase in the Taliban stronghold of Helmand Province.”

But ‘it was a success’… though I guess that depends on what your definition of success is… if it’s allowing the Taliban to get back to pre-war strength than, by all means, it’s been a success.

And if you look even deeper, you can find proof that Rummy had a role in the deterioration of the country considening that back in February 2002, then Secretary of State Colin “Wish I never joined Bush’s cabinet” Powell made a proposal that “American troops join the small international peacekeeping force patrolling Kabul and help Karzai extend his influence beyond the capital.”

Rumsfeld blocked his proposal.

While his boasts of success in Afghanistan are good, his best quote came when the interviewer asked him whether he misses President Bush… said Rumsfeld; “Um, no.”

Ouch… that’s gotta hoit…

But he said he still sees Cheney… no word if he plans to go hunting with the him though…

And the most revealing moments came when Rumsfeld admitted that not only did he try to resign three times before he actually left. But that he wrote a memo before the Iraq invasion that contained “at least” two-dozen warnings about what might happen.

Despite everything, Rummy still thinks that Bush will be vindicated someday and, over time, will be appreciated for his strengths and national security accomplishments…

I would write more, but my sides hurt from laughing too much…

Rove’s Ridiculous Rhetoric

Outgoing White House adviser Karl “Presdident” Rove wrote an op-ed in the National Review recently that extolled Bush’s greatness and predicted that “history will provide a more clear-eyed verdict on this president’s leadership than the anger of current critics would suggest.”

Uh-huh… anything more to say on the subject Karl?

“President Bush will be viewed as a far-sighted leader who confronted the key test of the 21st century. […] He will be judged as a man of moral clarity who put America on wartime footing in the dangerous struggle against radical Islamic terrorism. […] President Bush will be seen as a compassionate leader who used America’s power for good. […] I have come to understand true leadership leans into the wind. It tackles big challenges with uncertain outcomes rather than taking on simple, sure tasks. It does what is right, regardless of what the latest poll or focus group says. History demands much of America and its leaders and I am confident it will judge the 43rd president as a man more than worthy of the great office the American people twice entrusted to him.”

Uh… okay…I suppose anything is possible…

Even more Lieberman silliness

It seems the great minds at Daily Kos and ThinkProgress are on the same wavelength as I. No sooner did I read about this via Bloglines, than it was mentioned on Kos and ThinkProgress.

Every republican’s favorite Independent Joe Lieberman (I r-CT) is at it again. It’s no secret that Lieberman is a Bush-apologist… but now he’s going even further down that dark road from which there is no return.

In an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, Lieberman kissed Bush’s ass extolled Bush and his Iraq policies and echoed sentiments earlier spoken by Rush “OxyContin” Limbaugh when he stated; “Long after we’re all dead and gone, when historians who are not yet born begin to write about this era, they’re going to place George Bush in the upper echelon of presidents who had a great vision for America, who looked beyond our shores, who didn’t just restrict himself to domestic policy niceties.”

When Hewitt asked Lieberman how he thought history would evaluate Bush, Lieberman’s response dissolved any possibility that Lieberman has any Democratic XX in his body.

“And so I think overall, over time, his ratings among the historians will be greater than his ratings in the polls today.”

I love this argument. I mean, how can you refute it? it’s not like you can travel into the future, pick up a couple of historians and see if he and Limbaugh were right.

Where is Joe pulling this from? Nixon has numbers this low, and he is still viewed historically as a crook and a liar… how will Bush be any different?His attempts to do something that doesn’t involve Iraq have, by and large, failed.

Immigration reform has stalled… his lame attempt to do something with social security went the way of the dodo, and is only “victory” (a term I use very loosely), No Child Left Behind, has suffered from being grossly ineffective…

And through all that, Lierberman still believes Bush will be praised and vindicated later.

Interesting… isn’t it? The war is more unpopular than ever and Lieberman picks this time to opine that Bush is a great president and will be judged as such in the future.

Now… I’ve been writing about Lieberman all week… and I can no longer hold this in. How is it possible that a Senator who was once sensible and of sound judgement, go so completely ‘round the bend? Was it winning yet losing in 2000? Was it “the kiss?” What did it? Surely there has to be one moment that caused him to roll over and beg for his belly to be scratched by Bush…

Think back to May 2003, when Lieberman was competing for the Democratic nomination for president. He criticized the Bush(whacked) Administration for being “unprepared for the quick victory it predicted.” Then in Sept. 2003, he said that he was “shocked at how unprepared the Bush administration was for what to do afterward. They’ve left a vacuum which the terrorists, the Saddam loyalists, our enemies, have jumped into.”

From that to Bush “will be greater than his ratings in the polls today.” WTF??

Joe Lieberman needs to be a primary target the next time he’s up for re-election. We need to do everything within our power to make sure he DOES NOT get re-elected.

On the plus side, one has to think that it’s the destiniy of this adminstration to serve as an amazing warning to future administrations; examine all of their decisions and then do the exact opposite… you can’t go wrong then.