Quotes of the Morning: Rummy Redux

“The other day, as you may remember, a sixth retired general came out against Donald Rumsfeld. The Bush administration took the criticism in the same manner that they take all criticism..”
-Skippy

“President George W. Bush on Friday said Donald Rumsfeld has ‘my full support,’ after a number of retired generals criticized the defense secretary's handling of the Iraq war.
‘Secretary Rumsfeld's energetic and steady leadership is exactly what is needed at this critical period. He has my full support and deepest appreciation,’ Bush said in a statement.”
-Reuters, April 14, 2006

“That though was not enough.. If just Bush was supporting Rummy, then Bush might be seen as out of touch.. Hmmm… We need some other people to support Rummy. People who hold the same weight as the retired generals who are against him.. Who can we get to do that?”
-Skippy

“The Defense Department has issued a memorandum to a group of former military commanders and civilian analysts that offers a direct challenge to the criticisms made by retired generals about Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.
The one-page memorandum was sent by e-mail on Friday to the group, which includes several retired generals who appear regularly on television, and came as the Bush administration stepped up its own defense of Mr. Rumsfeld. On the political front, Republican strategists voiced rising anxiety on Saturday that without a major change in the course of the Iraq war, Republican candidates would suffer dearly in the November elections.
The memorandum begins by stating, ‘U.S. senior military leaders are involved to an unprecedented degree in every decision-making process in the Department of Defense.’ It says Mr. Rumsfeld has had 139 meetings with the Joint Chiefs of Staff since the start of 2005 and 208 meetings with the senior field commanders.
Seeking to put the criticism of the relatively small number of retired generals into context, the e-mail message also notes that there are more than 8,000 active-duty and retired general officers alive today.
The message was released Friday by the Pentagon's office of the Directorate for Programs and Community Relations and Public Liaison, but it was unclear who wrote it.
It is not uncommon for the Pentagon to send such memorandums to this group of officers, whom they consider to be influential in shaping public opinion. But it is unusual for the Pentagon to issue guidance that can be used by retired generals to rebut the arguments of other retired generals.
The memorandum quickly followed President Bush's statement on Friday in which he gave a strong endorsement of Mr. Rumsfeld.”
-New York Times, April 16, 2006

“Oh yeah! We’ll issue talking points to a different group of retired generals! That will work, and if it doesn’t, we can always just try to shame the generals who have been speaking out..”
-Skippy

“General Myers, who has emerged as one of Mr. Rumsfeld's chief defenders, repeated his comments from late last week that generals speaking out against the defense secretary are inappropriately breaching military etiquette that dictates officers only air complaints with the civilian leadership privately.”
-New York Times, April 16, 2006

“I love the White House. When there is a problem (Iraq, Plame, the environment etc.), you can always could on them to claim that the problem doesn’t exist and try to cover it up with talking points rather than actually address the issue. So very, very predictable.”
-Skippy