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The only thing that could have made this better would've been if Rummy leaned across the table and bitch-slapped Russert. |
Posted on 02/06/2005 12:25:07 PM PST by wagglebee
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld blasted NBC's "Meet the Press" host Tim Russert on Sunday for selectively editing an exchange he had in December with a National Guardsman who complained that his unit's vehicles weren't armored.
"That was unfair and it was selectively taking out two sentences from a long exchange," the Pentagon chief complained. "And when you suggested that that's how I answered that question, that is factually wrong." Russert had just aired a clip of the now infamous exchange between his guest and National Guardsman Specialist Thomas Wilson, where Wilson asked during a town hall meeting in Kuwait why "we soldiers have to dig through local landfills for pieces of scrap metal and compromised ballistic glass to up-armor our vehicles?"
In footage aired by Russert, Rumsfeld replied: "As you know, you go to war with the army you have, not the army you might want or wish to have at a later time.
"And if you think about it, you can have all the armor in the world on a tank and a tank can be blown up. And you can have an up-armored Humvee and it can be blown up."
After the clip had ended, the irked Defense Secretary said, "That is not how I answered that question.
"But, Mr. Secretary," replied Russert somewhat sheepishly. "It clearly represents the exchange and . . . "
"It does not," Rumsfeld shot back.
Prepared with a full transcript, the Defense chief overode the NBC host and proceeded to read his full answer:
"I talked to the general coming out here about the pace at which the vehicles are being armored," Rumsfeld began in response to Wilson.
"They have been brought from all over the world, wherever they're not needed, to places where they are needed. I'm told they are being--the Army is--I think it's something like 400 a month are being done now.
"And it's essentially a matter of physics. It's not a matter of money. It isn't a matter on the part of the Army's desire. It's a matter of production and capability of doing it. As you know, you go to the war with the Army you have. They're not the Army you might want or wish to have at a later time.
"Since the Iraq conflict began, the Army has been pressing ahead to produce armor necessary at a rate that they believe--it's a greatly expanded rate from what existed previously but a rate that they believe is the rate that can be accomplished.
"I can assure you that General Schumacher and the leadership of the Army and certainly General Whitcomb are sensitive to the fact that not every vehicle has the degree of armor that would be desirable to have, but that they're working at it at a good clip.
"It's interesting. I've talked a great deal about this with a team of people who've been working hard at the Pentagon. And if you think about it, you can have all the armor in the world on a tank and the tank could still be blown up. And you can have an up-armored Humvee and it can be blown up.
"And you can go down and the vehicle--the goal we have is to have many of those vehicles as is humanly possible with the appropriate level of armor available for the troops. And that's what the Army's been working on." [END OF RUMSFELD'S ANSWER TO WILSON].
After finishing the transcript, the defense chief told Russert:
"Now, that answer is totally different from picking out two lines. And I think it's an unfair representation and it's exactly what some of the newspapers around the country did."
God Bless Donald Rumsfeld ~ Bump!
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1337125/posts
Sunday Morning Talk Show Thread 6 February 2005
Various big media television networks ^ | 5 February 2005 | Various Self-Serving Politicians and Big Media Screaming Faces
Leftist blood and teeth on the floor.....where they live, thats what we need
Senator Susan Collins, was Secretary of Defense Don Rumsfeld pointing a finger at her? Christian News in Maine.com staff report
Not long ago, a young soldier in Iraq asked Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld a question. His question dealt with what is called up-armoring of HumVees. Much has come out since then about the up-armoring of HumVees used in both Iraq and Afghanistan, not the least of which is that over 85% of all HumVees used in both theatres of operations had been up-armored at the time of the question.
What got our attention was not the question, but Secretary Rumsfeld’s answer. He replied to the soldier by saying "… You go war with the Army you have, not the Army you would like to have." That got us thinking and asking questions about what kind of Military President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defense Don Rumsfeld inherited from the impeached, disgraced, adulterous Clinton administration.
The more we looked at Secretary Rumsfeld answer, the less enchanted we became with Maine’s two senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins. Snowe has never portrayed herself as anything but a liberal, she has never tried to pass herself off as pro-life, pro-Christ, pro-Republic, pro-tax cuts or anything else that even comes close to sounding Conservative. But, Senator Susan ...
Here's the link to the transcript.
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6923245/
...and this is why they all hate him. The man WILL NOT be intimidated, and he WILL NOT lay down and die when they tell him to.
Dan
RUMMY Bump !!!
I watched it this morning and I promise you will be glad to catch it. Russert potato really tries to shut Rumsfeld down and claims the excerpt is "representative" of the exchange and Rumsfeld correctly says it certainly is NOT. He pulls out the transcript with yellow highlighter and Russert keeps trying to stop him but Rumsfeld goes ahead and reads the whole thing.
Then Russert changes tacks and tries to get Rumsfeld to admit that the question helped bring a problem to their attention and Rumsfeld points out he fully supports the question being asked, however, going back to his full answer he points out they were already aware of the problem.
Russert was disgusting, IMO. Rumsfeld was da man.
It will be.
USA TODAY: RUMSFELD LOSES IT!
Washington Post: SEC. DEF. VERBALLY ASSAULTS RUSSERT
New York Times: UNBALANCED RUMSFELD CONCERNS ANALYSTS
Unfortunately,you are dead right !
I detest the big fat Russert, always have, always will.
I read a letter from a soldier written as of a week ago in Kuwait. His unit is dumpster diving for scraps. Problem unresolved. Rumsfeld is a great debater and misdirector. Before you go cheering his put down, ask yourself why only 500 medium trucks out of 4500 in Iraq have armor and we are making armored cabs at only 15 per day.
To the guardsmen and reservists that scrounged for what they could get, Rumsfelds debating skills protect him much better than them.
Both Hannity and Rush have had Russert on their shows, makes me sick. Hannity especially, he kisses Russert's arse.....
It sounds like Russert got senators confused up with states, if so, he should have asked himself when Alaska and Hawaii became states.
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Long ago the CBS-TV Media lies of RATHER & CRONKITE helped fool the American People into leaving the threatened Free People of South Vietnam behind to their fate at the hands of invading Communist bullies from the North.
Millions of poor S.E. Asian souls perished as a result.
Last year the mainstream news media tried to weaken California's 3 Strikes Law that keeps repeat violent offenders behind bars. Polls kept showing this voter proposition passing by a wide margin as a result of extensive TV Advertising. Turns out this expensive media misinformation campaign was being funded a California millionaire that wanted his jailed son released early.
Only the open check book of another California Millionaire brought last minute TV Commericals by Gov. "Keep them behind bars" ARNOLD that defeated this measure at the ballot box.
That's how strong a strangle hold the Media has on our ablility to make intelligent decisions on our own behalf.
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His "put down". We can all see where you are coming from with that ridiculous characterization.
Let me explain what it actually was: Russert took a part out of a loooooong answer (the same stunt the rest of the media has pulled) and Rumsfeld re-read his complete answer.
That is not a "put down". That is setting the record straight.
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The only thing that could have made this better would've been if Rummy leaned across the table and bitch-slapped Russert. |
I happened to see this and it was great. The funny thing is that Russert never really acknowledged and basically ignored Rumsfeld's well made point.
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