Philadelphia Union League Gives Rumsfeld Gold Medal

http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/16128376.htm

Black-tie event: Black mark?
EXCLUSIVE: Rumsfeld fete outrages Union League member
By DAN GERINGER

PRESIDENT Bush's departing defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, will be given the Union League of Philadelphia's Gold Medal tomorrow - and at least one distinguished member of that elegant institution is "astonished and ashamed."

In a blistering letter to League president Frank Giordano, longtime member James A. Ouns-worth called Rumsfeld "an arrogant and dishonest human being" who "with his blundering ahead with the war in Iraq, with his pigheadedness when faced with mistakes and failures... has presided over what may well be one of the great disasters of U.S. history."

Ounsworth, a Navy nuclear engineer who became a prominent Philadelphia lawyer, said he was "reconsidering whether I should continue as a member of such an organization."Giordano did not respond to a Daily News request for an interview.Union League spokesperson Patricia Tobin said that Giordano had received Ounsworth's letter, but would not comment on it publicly.

"We're pleased and honored to host ," Tobin said. She declined to say anything more. "This is like the CEOs who are awarded huge severance packages even though they're failures," Ounsworth told the Daily News yesterday. "Rumsfeld is a failure. I don't think you should give an award for failure. I thought the Union League stood for more than that."
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WHAT A DISGRACE.

I hope the miserable madman meets an empty room.

I wouldn't be surprised!

on edit: I don't think Keith will be able to resist the fact that the guy is a Navy vet and also a Philadelphia lawyer who is making a "Philadelphia case" out of this honor!

Or was it the Heinrich Himmler Award?

Reichsführer Rummy will not be soon forgotten, IMHO!

it was extraordinarily exclusionary until fairly recently. Interestingly, although Jews and blacks were not allowed in, the barrier was broken, and then recently, when the Locust Club (a primarily Jewish club formed as an alternative to the League many years ago) closed, many members joined the Union League. All, or almost all, was forgiven.

I received an award there years ago before the masses of ethnics moved in, and the doorman wouldn't let me take my coat to the checkroom with everyone else, he took it himself and ushered me into the dining room out of the hallway. He had no idea who I was but I wouldn't give you a hoot in Hell for the place. Food sucks.