Yes, there are Republicans who are not happy with Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s administration of the war and “Rummy” suggesting that those who question his or the administration’s management of the war are like people who appeased Nazis during World War II.
In fact, Thomas H. Kean, Jr. uses the key phrase: Rumsfeld “stepped over the line,” the New York Times reports:
State Senator Thomas H. Kean Jr., the Republican nominee for United States Senate in New Jersey, says he is so frustrated with the Bush administration’s handling of the war in Iraq that he is pushing for something that few Republicans have supported: the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.
In an interview at his campaign headquarters here, just shy of midnight on Friday, Mr. Kean said that he had become dissatisfied over the summer with what he said was Mr. Rumsfeld’s refusal to consider “competing points of view.�
But what compelled him to advocate publicly for a “fresh face� leading the troops, Mr. Kean said, were Mr. Rumsfeld’s recent remarks chiding critics of the war for “moral and intellectual confusion,� and comparing them to those who advocated appeasing Nazi Germany in the 1930’s.
“By engaging in that kind of rhetoric, this secretary has stepped over the line,� Mr. Kean said.
Mr. Kean stopped short of criticizing President Bush, other than saying he had not been “well served� by Mr. Rumsfeld. He says he does not support a timetable for the withdrawal of American troops, because he thinks that could lead to a humanitarian crisis and destabilize the region.
Still, Mr. Kean’s call for Mr. Rumsfeld to step down comes as more Republicans are distancing themselves, however gingerly, from Mr. Bush and an unpopular war…..Nowhere has this change of heart been more prevalent, perhaps, than in places where Republicans are engaged in close races.
The only problem is that this accusatory, demonizing motif aimed at those who dare aggressively question the administration’s policies (it is NOT only aimed at those calling for a pullout) is not merely a Rumsfeld creation. It would be shocking enough if it came only from the Secretary of Defense (a cabinet member who usually tries to stay a bit above the political mudfights).
But it has been mouthed or insinuated in varying forms by President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and others: if you strongly oppose or question the way the war is being conducted you (a) don’t understand terrorism, (b) don’t take the threat of terrorism seriously, (c) are trying to appease, (d) would put the country in danger if you come into power.
So purging this ugly riff from our politics would not be accomplished by Rumsfeld’s resignation.
But it’d be a nice start…
A Few Other Voices On This Issue:
—Matthew Yglesias: “The issue, however, is Bush, not Rumsfeld. It’s not as if Rumsfeld just did some one dumb thing two weeks ago and Bush has the chance to wash his hands of it. The problem with Rumsfeld just is the problem with the Bush administration’s national security policy. Pretending that there’s some “Rumsfeld issue” that could be resolved with a resignation at which point everything will be back on track is absurd.”
—Crudballs: “Do you remember the old tube type radios and televisions? When one of those tubes went bad, the whole set went on the fritz. And it didn’t start working again until the bad tube was properly replaced. So then, State Senator Kean, who do you have lined up to replace Mr. Rumsfeld? And what would you have this person do that is different?”
—Americablog’s Chris: “That “let’s attack the Democrats on the war” thing just hasn’t panned out the way Bush, Cheney and Rummy were hoping to see. Now GOP candidate Thomas Kean, Jr is calling for the resignation of Rummy. So is the Churchill-ism about eventually doing the right thing going to prove correct this election season?”
—NJ For McCain: “The polls have been very close, and a latest poll, shows State Senator Tom Kean leading. According to the poll, Kean would have a clearer lead if Iraq was not a concern for the NJ voter. This may explain why Senator Kean has called for Donald Rumsfeld’s resignation. If you are a Republican running this Fall, it is certainly smart (if not shrewd) to distance yourself from the Iraqi war and from the current administration.”
—Daily Kos points to this and says “the [Democrats’] call for Rumsfeld’s resignation is clearly going to be a win-win for Democrats (watch the GOP scramble)
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.