Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Whoa, Didn't See That One Comin': Rumsfeld Out

From the AP:

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld stepped down as defense secretary on Wednesday, one day after midterm elections in which opposition to the war in Iraq contributed to heavy Republican losses.


The man replacing him, Robert Gates, was a former CIA director and is the current president of Texas A&M University.

You know, just spit-ballin' here, wouldn't the smart thing to do would've been to do this, I don't know, before the election? Seeing as Rumsfeld was so unpopular and all that. Just sayin'.

3 comments:

JTapp said...

Yes, it would have been much smarter.
Bush said months ago that he knew it would help the elections to fire Rumsfeld, but he didn't care because it "wasn't the right thing to do."

There was a lot of venom towards the pres from his own party about Rumsfeld, especially after yesterday. He had to do this to keep Republican loyalty, not to gain the Democrat's respect.

Ryan said...

Ehh...I don't see it as a bad thing, but hind sight is 20/20 and we'll never know if more Republicans would have won if Rummy would have been axed months ago. I really doubt it.
What it does do though, it takes away the democrat whipping boy in Rummy. What will the dems yell about now?
Gates will probably be a shew in through the senate process as the only thing you can probably bring up is Iran Contra on Mr. CIA.
Perception IMO is the key.
Gates is now not seen as a political pawn, but as an answer to what happened yesterday.
And perception for Bush's legacy is probably key right now to him.

I just hope Gates is the right man for the job. I know one thing is for sure...he's been one helluva leader for A&M and I HATE to see him go.

JTapp said...

But it adds to the conspiracy theories: Aggies really do rule the world.