[nathanbedford]

It pains me to have posted (as I did not long ago in my vanity "WHY WE LOST" published shortly after the election analyzing the loss as primarily a repudiation by the people of the war in Iraq, and of George Bush) that Rumsfeld had to go. It pains me because Rumsfeld is a personal hero of mine whom I admire greatly and who, I believe, was reshaping the Pentagon in a way that will protect my grandchildren. But both Rumsfeld and Bush have lost their moral authority in Iraq and, somehow, the presidency must be protected so that the nation can somehow extricate itself from Iraq without a devastating setback in the war against Islamo fascism. So, Rumsfeld must fall on his sword.

When one surveys the list of options presented by Rumsfeld here, it is dismaying.

[evad]

When one surveys the list of options presented by Rumsfeld here, it is dismaying.

It is the best of times, it is the worst of times. There are parts of Iraq that are the best of times and parts that are the worst.

What is dismaying to me is that we allow anything published by the Times to guide our thinking into the worst of times. We seem to never learn.

I'm sure Rummy would still be DefSec, if the election had gone differently, but WE (the American people) deserted him, and W, sooo, out he went. So be it.

W will still prosecute the WOT, with his new DefSec, as he thinks best. He will do it to the best of his ability although I think he has been wounded by this latest slap in the face by the "American people".

[Jim Noble]

I don't know what is going on in the rest of the country, but the congressional seat in NH-01 was lost (to a raving moonbat) because of Iraq and nothing else.

And there's no doubt that there was a working coalition of "win or get out" plus the usual kooks.

I was, and remain, very, very upset at the attempts by the GOP and the FR bots to enforce a "everything is really going well" party line before the election.

WE are supposed to be the reality-based folks. WE are supposed to have the tight OODA loop. WE are supposed to know that wishing doesn't make it so.

And if it turns out, when everything comes out (which it will), that Bush has been shining us on and had no intention of pursuing a winning strategy, it's going to be really, really bad.

[21stCenturyFreeThinker]

It pains me to have posted ...

It may be painful but I think it's necessary. Stay or go, good men or bad, it's time to get some new minds on the job. Rumsfeld sounds worn out and drained of new ideas.