Defense Secretary Donald 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. The development occurred one day after midterm elections that cost Republicans control of the House, and possibly the Senate, as well. Surveys of voters at polling places said opposition to the war was a significant contributor to the Democratic victory.
President Bush was expected to announce Rumsfeld’s departure and Gates’ nomination at an afternoon news conference. Administration officials notified congressional officials in advance.
In the days leading up to the election, Bush said he wanted Rumsfeld to stay on as defense chief until the end of Bush’s second term.
Even Yahoo news is running the story:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061108/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/rumsfeld_resigns
Casualty #1
Rmpl
Yep. Probably the first of many.
While I did not like the results of the voting – I am happy Rummy is gone.
I dont think he has an open mind to anything.
Let me know when his resignation is effective and I’ll give my opinions. Right now, I want to support the CoC.
Kentucky’s Third District Congresswoman, Ann Northup (R), recently called for Rumsfeld to step down. She was snubbed by the GOP for that call. When Bush came to Southern Indiana last week to campaign for Cong. Sodrell, he pointedly gave no support to Northup even though he came to and left from Louisville (in Northup’s District). Last night, Hardball’s Chris Matthews called her a nice woman and good representative who didn’t deserve to lose. She lost to a twit Democrap. So did Sodrell.
Napoleon said, “There are no bad regiments, only bad colonels.”
I don’t know if I so much care about Rumsfeld, it’s the fact that Bolton might be the next to get cut that’s got me bothered. To say that I despise the UN is a gross understatement and it was nice having someone there who actually stood up for the US. I view the UN much like the Congress, the less that gets done the better. Bolton didn’t kiss anyone’s ass, if it didn’t jive with American interests, he didn’t go along to get along like the Dems feel is necessary.
According to the news today, Europe is happy with the Elections. I’m sure the Mid-East is too. I’m sure Mexico is delighted.
This smells like some sort of drug deal. I give Rumsfeld an A+ for balls, but he doesn’t seem to pay much attention to the generals. Counterinsurgecny is manpower intensive and cannot be effectively executed by a lean, mean SF-oriented military as envisioned by Rumsfeld.
The plus side to these elections is that the Dems have the ball and I am waiting for them to screw this up collosally. The sad thing is that they do not understand the Arab world (or any world outside of Starbucks and Salon.com) and if we back up in front of them we lose all the “street cred” we’ve spent 3 years building. The fact that we are going to look weak to the Arab world makes me nauseous. The sadder thing is that we are going to pay for their tree-hugging ineptitiude in blood. At the end of the day, Lefties are lovers, not fighters and believe deep down that ANY sort of aggressive behavior is wrong.
I read something about that and I feel the same way because I feel he honored our constitution and wasn’t about to give into the UN. It will suck if he gets whacked.
I was specifically looking for reactions out of the middle-east and while everyone is glad Bush’s “clones” are gone most don’t expect anything different out of the US. At least they are smart enough to realize we just swapped one bunch of buffoons for another.
There’s a lot of that goin’ round.
I didn’t realize Rumsfield had so many in uniform/DoD that think it best he move on…
Rmpl
he won’t be missed…
Maybe all Americans need to face what most Americans ignore, the fact when you are 74 your not dead but definitely the mind has begun to slip away … I am 48 and I find myself forgetting on occasion more and more and when you forget things that are important things/people can suffer. I’m not saying Rumsfeld forgot the Troops or forgot important issues but if the mind is evacuating details that it once thrived on perhaps he forgot what was important. Maybe he forgot he may need other people to accomplish what he could once manage on his own. My Mother is 85 years old she will still try to get something she cant reach mentally or physically and become more stubborn just to remain independent. Maybe Rumsfeld, since he has people who can reach things for him, forgot to employ them for that task and it frustrated him then snowballed on him. I’m not saying he’s incompetent but maybe too old to serve in the capacity he did. I feel there is wisdom that comes with experience and age but that experience and age will also dis-allow ideas to surface which are not what are considered contemporary thinking. When your 74 your contemporaries are dated back several decades. Which could be why he did not respond appropriately in regards to Iraq. IMHO
I will withold most of my comments until he is out. Much for the same reasons as already stated.
I will say that his demise, is most likely contributed to his inability to listen to the commanders underneath him. He had his way, and didn’t want to hear anything about it. Once all these retired Generals started spouting off, he has been pretty non-existent on the TV screen!
So I heard yesterday from several media sources that Bush made the decision several weeks ago to ask Rumy to resign. Well it was sure good of him to let America know this fact one day AFTER the Election. One day after it was too late. I’m sure Allen and all of the other Republican House and Senate candidates that lost because of how the War was being handled are really happy about this. Way to go W!!! What an idiot.
Now Bush is talking about toning down the partisanship and working with the Dems in order to get stuff done. Like…granting amensty to illegals, passing a guest worker program, removing the tax cuts, raising the minimum wage, and probably, although not actively promoted, a new AWB.
Man, I wish that man had the nuts that Cheney does.
The “ONLY” reason W got my vote in 2000 and 2004 was due to the repugnancy of the thought of having Al Gore or John Kerry as President…
Rmpl
It is pretty sad when you have to vote for a candidate who is not the best but rather not quite as bad as the other.
Politics are like WWF, the politicians may enter through different doors but they leave on they same tour bus.
1st of all let me say, I am glad that Rumsfeld is gone. However, how does the old saying go? “Better the devil you know, than the devil you don’t” The new SoD may be a bigger liability than Mr. Rumsfeld, although that would be a steep order to fill, considering Rumsfeld is the Mcnamara of our generation. “I don’t do quagmires” is one of his funnier quotes.
I look at it this way, since Nancy Pelosi has been threatening subpoenas at the SoD since the minute she was made the heir apparant Speaker,it became clear that Mr. Rumsfeld would spend more time on Capitol Hill in front of oversight committees, than he would doing his job (albeit poorly)
The thing that angers me the most is that now that he is leaving office, he will be doing the speaking circuit, getting paid 7 figures per event, not to mention 1 or more book deals and other psuedo-celebrity perks that go with his former title. It should be law that when you “tap out” or are drummed out of public office, that you cannot use your former fame to make yourself richer than you already are. I for one wouldn’t buy a book written by or about him, as I feel that he is disconnected from reality. Much like Madeline Albright, or John Kerry.
Case in point :
He built this Golem, and just like the history of Golem’s or the Frankenstein monster, it ended up killing him (politically)
Kerry’s “Golem”
Looking for pictures of Albright’s dance with Kim Jung-il. 
Of course Cheney has nuts, he is a cyborg, the real Dick Cheney had a M.I. on September 11th and died. Here is the plant where they got Dick Cheney Ver. 2.1 from:
Here is what he originally looked like until the hosts of TLC’s “What not to wear” got ahold of him
