McCain: Rumsfeld One Of Worst Secretaries Of Defense In History

ABC News ^ | Feb. 19, 2007 | AP

[FairOpinion]

Senator John McCain said Monday the war in Iraq has been mismanaged for years.

He said Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld (news - bio) will be remembered as one of the worst to ever hold the job.

He said the United States is paying a heavy price for the mismanagement.

He said Rumsfeld never put enough troops on the ground to succeed in Iraq.

Former Oklahoma Governor Frank Keating and former Texas Senator Phil Gramm were at his side.

Both endorsed McCain over the weekend.

[Froggie]

His ONLY hope to get my vote is if he is the only one running against Hillary. His chance to get the Rep nomination should be just about ZERO. I can see him running as an independent with Lieberman as VP choice - that would make an interesting General Election... it could be his final poke in the eye to the true Republicans.

[Txsleuth]

WOW...there is a freeper...gov_bean_counter, I believe, that has been on several threads asking us all to look for who, in the Congress, might have an interest in that part of the world that could be more "personal"...

Maybe this about Rockefailure, Murtha, Pelosi tells us something, since those 3 are some of the most virulent critics..and seem to want us out INSTEAD of winning!!

Maybe they are worried about what we might find by staying.

[gulfcoast6]

I am not voting for this fella anyhow, this just double my not voting for him.

[Txsleuth]

Did you post the link to this thread on that one??

[colorado tanker]

He said Rumsfeld never put enough troops on the ground to succeed in Iraq.

I agree. Bremer was also a disaster.

[lepton]

In late 1992 and early 1993, I spent about 6 months analyzing relative Democrat/Republican corruption...and McCain was my bad example of a Republican who hadn't been a lifelong Democrat switching only to run unopposed.

[FairOpinion]

Did you post the link to this thread on that one??


Yes I did with a recommendation that people come and read the posts on this one.

[lepton]

...but, that wasn't Rummy's fault.

Powell declined to go to Turkey personally and pressure them. I've put that on him.

[COEXERJ145]

Actually Rumsfeld tired to resign on more than one previous occasion and the President refused to accept it.

[KantianBurke]

Rumsfeld was fired for a reason. As Bush himself admitted in his address to the nation last month, things aren't going well over there. He thought he could do more with less. He was wrong. For McCain to declare Rumsfeld THE worst Sec Def is electoral nonsense but to say Rumsfeld was flawless and should still hold his job is silly and innappropriate.

[lepton]

...but, that wasn't Rummy's fault.

Powell declined to go to Turkey personally and pressure them. I've put that on him.

Bush has some responisbility ther for not making him go... And Clinton has a lot to answer for there by letting our relations with Turkey fall apart from neglect, thus dramatically decreasing the prestige that Turkey's secular government had from the beneficial relationship. This last led to a more Islamist government taking power in Turkey, which made the arrangments much harder to make.

[lepton]

Last week during the House speeches about Iraq...Duncan Hunter stood up several time and listed what the military did NOT have at their disposal at the time of 9/11.

Off-hand, do you have a link?

[Txsleuth]

Thank you so much...I love freepers, they always teach me knew things.

[PhilDragoo]

John McCain slanders Donald Rumsfeld as yet one more back-stabbing of President Bush.

Who can forget John McCain's two-year telethon on behalf of enemy detainees, doing his best impression of Jerry Lewis and Jerry's kids.

John McCain did more than anyone to prevent President Bush from nominating constructionist judges to the Supreme Court.

John McCain used the First Amendment as his toilet paper with his vile "campaign finance reform" (s/b Incumbent Preservation Act "and the people be damned").

John McCain the martyr of the Vietnam War--which was lost in November 1965 when Lyndon Baines Johnson roundly cursed and humiliated the Joint Chiefs who requested permission to mine Haiphong and bomb Hanoi.

MacNamara had no problem with that outrageous strategic blunder. It went down like buttah when Robert should have resigned.

McCain's current saber-rattling vis-a-vis Iraq cannot obscure his role as al Jazeera's chief lobbyist against the American devil of abu Ghraib.

No, John McCain, you are not to judge ill of Donald Rumsfeld's deft convolution of Clinton's 40% cuts into a leaner fighting machine.

We will go to the 2008 battle with the candidate we have, John McCain, which will be you the same time every American fighting man is issued a large pipe to aim the monkees flying out of his [navel].

We expect this line of crap from John Murtha and Hillary Clinton. Get thee behind them, John McCain.

[Recovering_Democrat]

[John McLame-RINO, Arizona] said Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld will be remembered as one of the worst to ever hold the job.

Shove it, McLame.

[Txsleuth]

http://www.c-span.org/resources/house_feb2007.asp


Here is a link for all of the House members and their speeches...I guess you just click on the one(s) for Hunter.

I didn't study it...I just went and grabbed this link from C-span.

Hunter was one of the "managers" of the debate..which means that he had time for comments between other GOP House members' speeches.

That is one reason that he was able to make those points repeatedly...because he wasn't restricted to just one 5 minute speech like most of the others.

However, that could also make it difficult to actually find when or if those short remarks are on this list.

If you have a hard time let me know...

[bnelson44]

IMHO, McCain is right. Rumsfeld didn't handle Iraq correctly.

[FairOpinion]

Please read post 69 on this thread.

[devolve]

[George W. Bush]

I don't see how this helps him get any votes. He's criticizing the president's judgment indirectly, however you slice it. So his strong support on Bush's Iraq policy which did him some good with the base is weakened by this.