The Democrat response should have been that Rumsfeld's comparision doesn't apply to them as they support defeating the terrorists. But it does apply to them, which is why they're furious.
-bflr-
This post was absolutely ping. After reading this I was moved to send an email to Senator Feinstein to express my outrage on the dems attack against President Bush. My email was also a response to a letter she sent in response to an earlier email I sent to her. In her letter she chastized me for holding my position in support of the Iraq war. She tried to "convince" me why President Bush lied. I let her know she cannot cajole or manipulate me into accepting her tripe.
Rumsfeld Use of Word “Appease” Irks Dems
In a speech to the American Legion Convention in Salt Lake City, Secretary Rumsfeld asked “Can we truly afford to believe that somehow, some way, vicious extremists can be appeased?” Inasmuch as the term “appeasement” is widely associated with unsuccessful pre-World War II efforts to deter Adolf Hitler from starting a war, Democratic critics of President Bush’s handling of the war on terror were quick to take offense.
“I never said ‘appease,’” protested Representative John Murtha (D-Penn). “I said we should assuage the fears of the Muslims by pulling our troops out of their countries.”
“Mollify is the term I use,” said Senator Russ Feingold (D-Wisc). “I am no appeaser. I am a ‘mollifier.’”
“At first, I was for placating our adversaries,” said Senator John Kerry (D-Mass). “Later I switched to favor propitiation. But now I agree with Senator Feinberg. I think we should mollify them. Parenthetically, if I may interject, they would most likely have been placated, propitiated and/or mollified by now if I had been elected president in 2004. But never, ever would I appease them. Rumsfeld is slandering me.”
“I am no appeaser,” said Senator Ted Kennedy (D-Mass). “Getting bombed has always struck me as the better option. Rumsfeld needs to apologize and resign.”
“This is almost as bad as the ‘cut-run-surrender’ smear the Republicans have been trying to lay on us,” Howard Dean, Democratic National Committee Chairman, complained. “We never said that. Our position is that the U.S. should disengage, flee and yield. And we aren’t waving a white flag. It’s ‘cream.’”
Thus far, Rumsfeld has declined to apologize, resign, or respond to the Democrats’ complaints. “How can I respond?” Rumsfeld asked. “Their position is incoherent. “Appease, mollify, placate, whatever—it’s all the same thing.”
read more...
http://www.azconservative.org/Semmens1.htm
Sorry but that is 100% Bush's fault! If you don't respond to lies and allegations that slander your character and exonerate your honor, the accusation sticks. Sorry but this "He won't dignify an answer because he's the President" is the same line of thinking that got Marie Antoinette beheaded; and if the Democraps take control of the house, they will be sharpening up the blade!