Rumsfeld "In Trouble" With Bush, To Be "Eased Out" Soon

From the Dec. 8 edition of MSNBC's Hardball:

CHRIS MATTHEWS: We are joined by Tom DeFrank — he‘s the Washington bureau chief of the New York Daily News — and Dana Milbank of the Washington Post. Thank you, Dana. Thank you, Tom. There are a lot of rumblings, and I think some of them are coming out of your reporting, Tom, about something wrong with this war, the way it‘s being run over there. Despite the president‘s strong stand, we‘re going to stay until we get the job done, is Rumsfeld in trouble?

DEFRANK: Well, I think he‘s in trouble, but I think he has been in trouble for well over a year, Chris. The real question is ...

MATTHEWS: With the president?

DEFRANK: Yes, I think the president — but the president, as we all know, is a very loyal guy. He — with rare exceptions he doesn‘t like to get rid of people when they are under duress. And I think that had Rumsfeld not been under such criticism a year or so ago, if the Abu Ghraib prison riot — prison scandal had not broken, I think Rumsfeld would have been gone long ago. But I think now it appears that he is on the glide path waiting for a graceful retirement after the first of the year.

...

MATTHEWS: Dana, you are reporting at the “Post” so far about the condition of the chain of command. Is Rumsfeld in trouble?

MILBANK: Well, he should be by any normal standard, but I think as Tom correctly points out, that this president is not one to push somebody out when he is in a difficult spot, that‘s why they are just waiting for something to make a little bit of a turn here, whereby he could be eased out. Nobody really knows. And people have been speculating about Rumsfeld for an awfully long time. His response to Tom‘s report today was to say that he has no plans to leave. But, if you recall that President Bush had no plans to attack Iraq right up until March of 2003, so he certainly is not ruling it out.

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This item first appeared at Journalists Against Bush's B.S.

* couldn't even fire Brownie - and he outright killed 10,000 or so NO residents right in front of us. Rummie will die in the saddle and not by * hand - my prediction.

But why Lieberman , for God's sake? Is this part of the fundie Rapture strategy?

Did you expect * to pick a Democrat?

:sarcasm:

blame a democrat for it.

He and Zell should sit down and plan a plot against... who, again?

claims of Bush's "Loyalty". I'll just speculate about RumsFailed.

Yes, I do believe the old buzzard is finally finished. But I think RumsFathead has been wanting to get out for a long time. The war in Iraq is nothing but a long string of losses - a garland of skulls around RumsFool's neck.

If you look closely at him, he looks tired. He's tired of showing up in board meetings, discussing what the hell to do about Iraq. How to get out gracefully. Or keep it so Cheney can have his goddamn oil.

Notice how RumsFelled keeps saying "I'm not aware of that", or "I have no knowledge of anything". Meaning = I'm through with this little fiasco.

What's the name Gilead? I remember hearing Congress cut out 7.3 billion in bird flu information packets but
allowed 1 billion dollars for Tamiflu, a drug with little benefit. Correct me if I'm wrong !!!

Why don't I NOT disbelieve this?!