SwiftVets.com

[Doc Farmer]

Hating Rumsfeld--A Cottage Industry
Written by Doc Farmer
Wednesday, December 22, 2004


I lived in the Washington, D.C. area for several years. It’s not a friendly or forgiving place. Even the private businesses there are very, indeed overly, political. It’s a back-stabbing, eye-gouging, dog-eat-dog, kill-or-be-killed, sink-or-swim environment where only the strongest, meanest and orneriest can possibly survive.

But enough about Starbucks.

Most folks who live outside the beltway can’t begin to imagine the rarified atmosphere that is the Nation’s Capitol. You’ve got Congress, which is constantly in re-election mode, sucking up to the camera whenever possible. You’ve got political appointees, who are only there as long as the President wants them, and so are hell-bent not to screw up too massively or too publicly. You’ve got the career bureaucrats, who have made a living (literally) out of screwing anyone and everyone possible to keep their plum position of doing bugger-all, while leaking sensitive documents to the Washington Post or the New York Times whenever they disagree with the President, the secretary of their particular branch of government, or with their spouse before making the three-hour, 14-mile journey to work. For this last group, Desperate Dan Rather’s fax machine is already set on speed-dial, and no Kinkos is required.

Into this mix, drop one Donald H. Rumsfeld.

You’ve heard the name, I take it. The beleaguered, embattled Secretary of Defense.—beleaguered and embattled less by the Taliban and Al Qaeda than the lib/dem/soc/commie intelligentsia these days. Even some RINOs have jumped into the frying pan, hoping to chuck poor Rummy into the fire. All because he answered what he believed to be an honest question from a soldier. A question that was anything but honest. A question that was, on its face, wrong in several respects. The lib/dem/soc/commie press doesn’t, however, care about the question. They only care about the answer. Donald Rumsfeld committed, in their eyes, a capital crime of the political world.

He gave an honest answer.

First, let’s look at the question. A soldier spoke the words, but like so many of the caricatures we have seen of Dubya with Karl Rove or Dick Cheney working the mouth, it was a reporter with his hand firmly up his back(side) delivering the actual query. An “imbedded” reporter (shouldn’t that be an in-bed-with-the-DNC reporter?) was tooling around with a group of soldiers, and the poor dear was ever so terrified that he might get a boo-boo because (deary me!) his Humm-V wasn’t “up-armored” yet. He probably didn’t have the DVD player and a collection of Spongebob Squarepants to keep him occupied either, but that’s another issue. Since Rummy had said he only wanted questions from soldiers, our intrepid reporter decided to create the news by coaching a willing soldier who was his “escort” (see also: bodyguard or dupe) into asking what he could not.

The question, as we all know, was why wasn’t this poor reporter’s, er, um, soldier’s Humm-V armored properly? Why did they have to scrounge around like rats to find scrap-iron to fortify their vehicle? Ignoring for the moment the fact that scrap iron isn’t going to stop much more than a Zell Miller spitball, of course. What was the Secretary of Defense going to do about it?

Well, Rummy told him. They were working to get armored Humm-V’s off the assembly line, and to get the upgrade kits produced. It was not an issue of a lack of will or funding, but of logistics. He then said that even fully armored tanks can get blown up in a war, and that you have to go to war “with the army you have,” not necessarily the army you want.

Well, gosh ‘n by golly, the lib/dem/soc/commie media went into a tizzy over that one! How dare the Secretary be so callous and unfeeling? Except for one thing. He was right on both counts. Armor won’t stop everything. It reduces the risk, but it cannot eliminate it. Further still, the media decided to spin “the army you have/the army you want” into a dig against the troops. When they knew, full well, that it was a dig against the lib/dem/soc/commies, and their patron saint, Slick Willie.

As Vincent Fiore detailed in yesterday’s ChronWatch article, “Rumsfeld’s Two Wars: The Military and the Media” (http://www.chronwatch.com/content/contentDisplay.asp?aid=11904), the armed forces had been gutted and hanged like a 12-point buck by Saint Billy Jeff of the Zipper, with the more-than-willing assistance of Congress (both sides of the aisle). In searching for a “peace dividend” and a quick buck, they made dangerous, shortsighted, and just plain stupid cuts in military budgets and preparedness. Clinton may have “balanced” the budget, but he did it at the cost of the protection of this nation. I guess, to him, it must have just been a legacy thing.

Well, since the lib/dem/soc/commie media don’t like to be reminded of their failures, but instead like to foist those failures on the heads of those most able to fix them, they completely ignored their complicity in this farce. They kept demanding to know where’s the armor, where’s the bulletproof glass, why aren’t you protecting our troops Mr. Secretary?

Except, he already was!

What folk are now finding out, but only if they have access to the Internet and a lot of keyword searching, is that the outfit where our intrepid (or is that insipid) reporter was riding around with his heiney hanging out was almost completely updated! Their Humm-Vees were already about 90% complete in the “up-armor” process. They just hadn’t gotten around to his particular vehicle yet, because they were busy protecting the troops!

So, since this has become a total non-issue, the media are now kvetching that Rummy didn’t hand-sign every condolence letter sent out from his office. Walter, one of our regular posters over at the ChronWatch Forums, informs me that McNamara did nothing for the families of Viet Nam KIA’s. Neither did Kennedy nor Johnson. Neither did Truman, Stimson, FDR, etc. Considering the fact that this only became a practice during the Bush-41 presidency, and considering the fact that Rumsfeld is often out there WITH THE TROOPS IN THE FIELD, he can’t always get to his desk. When you further consider that the congressmen b****ing and crabbing about this use the exact same signing machines as Rummy does, their complaints start to ring hollow.

This will not be the end of it, I fear. Another of the posters on the ChronWatch Forum described the practice as “the assassination by accretion of tiny wounds” method, an approach he found objectionable. Well, so do I. Sadly, we know that the lib/dem/soc/commie media will continue to do this, mainly because they have nothing better to do, nor the intelligence to come up with actual issues.

This is, however, the Christmas and Hanukkah Season. For Seinfeld viewers it’s Festivus, and for the annoyingly PC out there, it’s the ChristmaHanuKwanzEidaBodhiSolstaZarathoshDisoRamandanaKahMas Season. And since I’m in such a jolly and giving mood this year, I’ve decided to help the lib/dem/soc/commie press in their never-ending quest to find reasons to complain about Rummy. Please take these in the spirit they’re intended....

• Rumsfeld doesn’t answer questions the way they should be answered - indirectly and in such a way as to make reporters look smart.
  
• Rumsfeld is too direct, too frightening, too, too, honest to be working in DC.
  
• Rumsfeld doesn’t floss.
  
• Rumsfeld doesn’t let reporters watch and photograph him comforting military families so that they can exploit their grief properly and blame him for it.
  
• Rumsfeld always eats at Taco Bell before entering closed Congressional meetings.

Well, media mavens, it could be worse. Dubya could have easily assigned Dr. Condoleezza Rice to head the Department of Defense, and shifted Rummy over to STATE!


About the Writer: Doc Farmer is a writer and humorist who is also a moderator on ChronWatch's Forum. He formerly lived in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, but now resides in the Midwest. Doc receives e-mail at docfarmer9999@yahoo.co.uk.


This Article Was First Published In ChronWatch At: http://www.chronwatch.com/content/contentDisplay.asp?aid=11926
_________________

Fat, Bald and Ugly - And PROUD Of It!

[tony54]

Since the 2000 election the left has had a hit list of Bush Cabinet members to demonize cause they want them out!
Anyone replacing them will automatically be inserted into that hit list.
Rumsfeld, Ashcroft, Rice, Powel are all on that hit list.
Anything they say or do will be turned against them by the left, and especially left MSM.
They really want the whole Bush team, including Bush out.
But since that isn’t going to happen, they will divide and conquer, yesterday Ashcroft was the root of all evil, today Rumsfeld, tomorrow? Your guess is as good as mine, but they will be crucifying one of them that’s for sure.

But when Clinton was in power the same left MSM catered and bowed to Janet (WACO) Reno, Madelyn (BOSNIA) Albright and Joycelyn(FREE CONDOMS TO SCHOOLCHIDREN) Elders the three worst cabinet members in the history of the USA. What’s that tell you?
But the 35% of the people who pay any attention to them already hate Bush and his whole Administration, so basically the MSM is just preaching to their own quire.

The MSM is a network of very ignorant people.
MY MOTTO IS TO IGNORE THE IGNORANTS!
They are irrelevant.










sahcroft

[scotty61]

The latest slam is that the unfeeling brute had auto-signed condolence letters to the families of KIA. Of course those who were able to dig that up did not bother to see if Clinton's Sec Def had sent out auto-signed condolence letters in the Blackhawk Down incident. That would only cloud the issue that Rumsfield is an unfeeling brute. Also ignored is the fact that this unfeeling brute goes into combat zones to talk to the troops man to man.

The press feels that if they create a big enough stink Bush will be forced to get rid of him. Perhaps someone should provide these people with a carefully placed whack alongside of the head and remind them their job is to report, not take an active part in the affairs of government.

He didn't hand sign condolence letters. My God, are these people so adle-minded that they are unable to see what a petty and vindictive charge this is? No wait, don't answer that. They are so distraught over the drubbing they took in the last election that they willingly embrace the petty and vindicitve if they feel that it has the slightest chance of gaining them some vindication
_________________
John Kerry. A Neville Chamberlain for our times.

[Nutso]

What is really ironic is an autopen is not OK for rummy, but Kerry's falsified and upgraded citation was auto - pen signed without the knowledge of the person who's name they were using. Then again no real person would sign Kerry's.

[srmorton]

Scotty61 is absolutely right. The MSM thinks they have the power
to force GW to get rid of Rumsfield. They are sadly mistaken for
two reasons. First, GW has firmly stated his support for Rummy.
Guess they did not catch that newsclip. Second, GW does not
govern by the polls like Slick Willie did. He could care less what
other people think of a decision that he feels is in the best interest
of the United States.

BTW, it's easy to forget that Rumsfield is 72 years old. He has a
schedule that many people twenty years younger (I for one) would
have difficulty keeping up with. Some people that age have arthritis
or other problems that make writing difficult. It is the height of
hypocrisy for members of Congress (or the MSM) to be criticizing his
use of the autopen when they use it all the time. It allows his signature
to be placed on things when he may be visiting the troops in Iraq.
IMO, this is not a sign of disrespect for the dead soldiers, but a sign of
his care and concern for those that are still in harm's way.
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Susan R. Morton

[Doc Farmer]