Rumsfeld Resigns

Posted on November 8, 2006

So it begins. This was obviously decided long ago based on election actuarial permutations. President Bush wanted to beat the Dems to the punch and take one act of the circus out of play after yesterday’s DISASTER (yum! Crow!)

CNN Reports: GOP officials: Rumsfeld stepping down

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, architect of an unpopular war in Iraq, intends to resign after six stormy years at the Pentagon, Republican officials said Wednesday.

Officials said Robert Gates, former head of the CIA, would replace Rumsfeld.

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3 Responses to “Rumsfeld Resigns”

  1. Jeff Molby on November 8th, 2006 2:55 pm

    President Bush wanted to beat the Dems to the punch and take one act of the circus out of play after yesterday’s DISASTER

    Or Bush has been dissatisfied with Rumsfeld for some time and only waited for the 8th because he didn’t want to give the Dems ammunition.

    It’ll be years before we’ll know which was the case.

  2. Jay on November 8th, 2006 3:01 pm

    Perhaps so Jeff, but if Bush was dissatisfied with Rumsfeld it would have been a smarter strategy to get rid of him BEFORE the elections.

  3. Jeff Molby on November 8th, 2006 3:04 pm

    it would have been a smarter strategy to get rid of him BEFORE the elections.

    Maybe, but it’s awfully hard to sell a convincing “stay the course” message if you push out the guy that charted the course.

    If they got rid of him beforehand, they would have had to switch to a “we’ve made a few mistakes, but we’re still making good progress” message. Apparently, the RNC was unwilling to make that switch and it appears that the gamble didn’t pay off.