Monday, June 22, 2009

Rumsfeld Gets Petulant


(AFP, 03-09-06)

I recommend reading Time's profile of Donald Rumsfeld in decline, an excerpt from Brad Graham's new book, because it's so sad and funny. Mostly it's sad:

Rumsfeld wanted to be sure I saw the many letters of praise and kind words he had received following the announcement of his resignation. He had sorted the letters according to source — members of Congress, foreign dignitaries, U.S. military personnel, former associates, friends — and filed them in large, three-ring binders.


And what about Condi? Any bitterness? Oh my, yes:

Another longtime friend reported that Rumsfeld was not happy with how abruptly his removal had come about. A former subordinate who spent several days with Rumsfeld in Taos heard him fume about disagreements with other top administration officials, particularly Rice.


This, of course, doesn't tell us anything we didn't already note at the time. Let's hear Rummy complain about Condi some more:

Rumsfeld has ascribed much of the negative perception of him and the Bush administration to distorted media coverage. "The intellectual dishonesty on the part of the press is serious," he asserted. He groused about "a strong incentive to be negative and dramatic" that had infused much of the coverage. "It's a formula that works. It gets Pulitzers; it gets promotions; it gets name identification on the front page above the fold."

Part of the formula, Rumsfeld added, involved pillorying him along with Bush and Cheney but sparing Powell and Rice. As an example, he noted accusations that Bush and Cheney had lied about Saddam Hussein's possession of weapons of mass destruction in making the case for the invasion of Iraq. "They never say Colin Powell lied," Rumsfeld asserted. "They don't say Condi lied."


Hmm, well, I said Condi lied all the time, but whatever.

20 comments:

Fran said...

There is such a Shakespearean element to that photo and this post - so well done, even by already high PSP standards.

When Rummy says this "The intellectual dishonesty on the part of the press is serious," I have to wonder if he is referring to the Fox News Channel!

Oh, nevermind!!

PS - that letters in a three ring binder thing really creeped me out

Matthew Hubbard said...

I wonder if Rummy thinks the press bias is about the favoring of secretaries of state over secretaries of defense or it has something to do with... something else?

I'm starting to lose hope that these guys are going to die in jail, but if they can die bitter and alone and clutching onto three ring binders, that would be some small solace.

dguzman said...

Um, Rummy, you know what else gets you "name identification on the front page above the fold?" Starting wars without provacation and repeated breaking international law. Of course, they don't give Pulitzers for those things, so I guess you have a point?

justlovely said...

He's complaining about intellectual dishonesty on the part of the press? If the press had been doing its job, he would have been in prison long ago. Indeed, the whole gang would never even have made it to the White House.

All the pain and death he's helped to cause and it doesn't even make him happy. Boo-hoo!

J. Matt said...

Also, didn't Colin Powell's credibility fall precipitously after he gave his bs to the UN?

Glennis said...

The three ring binders....how pathetic. For the next 10 years, he's going to show them to any visitors who have the misfortune to darken his door.

Anonymous said...

What a disgusting tongue bath that article is!

"Don Rumsfeld is a throwback to a breed of public man who judge themselves not relative to their peers but relative to the standard they have set for themselves, a standard closely equated to the public good," Steve Cambone remarked.

Just like Chimpy: "I'm right. What I want is what's best for everybody.* And I won't listen to anyone who disagrees."

*"Everybody" in Rummy's case being the CEOs of Boeing, Haliburton, etc.

Lau said...

Well, to be fair, putting positive feedback from others in a three-ring binder is something a past therapist recommended to boost self-esteem. And, of course, sorting said three-rings by source just shows an admirable sense of order.

Making the world a materially worse place and then being a racist on top of that, however, are just very bad things.

Anonymous said...

Rummy's right in that they do never say Colin Powell lied; I disagree his reputation plunged after he lied at the UN. I don't know how he gets away with it.

Diane Griffin said...

I wonder if he makes you wear latex gloves to touch his binders?

Anonymous said...

Three-ring binders? I'm terribly disturbed by this. Does it mean that Rummy PUNCHED HOLES in his admirers' letters? Or did he use those protective plastic sleeves?

section9 said...

Well, it's nice to see that the Princess stopped genuflecting in front of the graven image of Obama long enough to reflect on Rumsfeld. Donald's greatest flaw was that he was too much of an alley fighter and forgot who he was working for. Same with Cheney.

Rice never did; that's why she survived and outlasted them both. Rumsfeld's term at defense? He made a few necessary reforms, cancelled some dumb projects, but on the whole, he reminds one of MacArthur in Korea-brilliant but fatally egotistic and at sea against a new kind of enemy. He failed to adjust, and so he failed.

Unfortunately for the D's, Obama is repeating the same mistakes in Afghanistan, but that's another story.

ThePoliticalCat said...

Rumsfeld, brilliant? Hardly. Although I must say his "Whine of the Oppressed White Man" has me ready to whip out my tiny violin. Jesus, what a fucking jerk. I wouldn't pay him to suck my dick.

Karen Zipdrive said...

PoliticalCat, I would however pay him to suck Limbaugh's dick, on Pay Per View TV.
They'd both love it and we could erase the national debt.
As for section 9, are you nuts? To compare Rummy with MacArthur is like comparing George W. Bush with Abe Lincoln.
Give it a rest, dopey.

hooverific said...

Nothing is sadder than a wronged war criminal. Why do i feel like fucking up his life like he did so many others? THAT is the saddest result in some ways.

dguzman said...

I'm guessing the letters are in those protective plastic sheets.

And I really DO know how to spell "provocation." *blushing*

Bartman said...

Any of you going abroad this summer should send postcards to Rummy for his binder. He sure aint going anywhere where he could be arrested.

Glennis said...

Or did he use those protective plastic sleeves?

You know he did.

Norn Cutson said...

...but he sure loved the press when Pam Hess was callin' him "rockstar".

Lulu Maude said...

Did he put in those little section-things in red, yellow, and blue?

Truly touching.