OFF THE RECORD WITH DON RUMSFELD

http://men.style.com/gq/features/landing?id=content_5896 ^ | Lisa DePaulo

[ventanax5]

The private plane about to deliver Rummy and Mrs. Rummy to their getaway in Taos, New Mexico, is idling on the tarmac at Dulles when the Secretary arrives. He enters smiling, beaming, swaggering, a compact little 75-year-old package of waning testosterone, dressed in real-man-headed-to-his-ranch khaki, two dachshunds (names: Reggie and Chester) yapping at his loafers, classy, no-nonsense wife of fifty-two years Velcroed to his side. In other words, the perfect tableau of a Bush-administration official—except, of course, that he no longer is and has chosen this outing to talk at length for the first time since he was rudely banished from the kingdom last December.

[fishergirl]

You’re right. I’m surprised he agreed to be interviewed by them.

[fishergirl]

You’d be surprised about dachshunds. Our son has one and we have a miniature. They’re cute, but very feisty, extremely protective and loyal and ours DO NOT like strangers coming around the house. For their size they have an extremely loud bark. If our miniature starts barking from inside the house at someone at the door, he sounds like a very big dog. Plus, they have great personalities and are absolutely the funniest little dogs we’ve ever had.

[STARWISE]

RUMMY ~~ PING!

~~~~~~~~~

Excerpt:

"We move on to some photographs. DHR in his Princeton-graduation photo, DHR on a unicycle, DHR with Gerald Ford in bedroom slippers. And a really creepy shot of DHR's face on a shooting target in Iraq. "These were found in the terrorist training camp," he explains. "Before the war even started, they were there."

With you as the target?

"Yeah. When we conquered Baghdad, we went into this terrorist training camp and this was their target, all over the place. They were using these."

Didn't that freak you out?

A loud belly laugh. "There are so many things that should freak me out!" Then, a straight face. "No. Not really."

Rummy collects his papers and memos and stuffs them into his old, beat-up leather briefcase. (He's had it since 1977.) Then he gathers up the newspapers and offers them to me. In return I toss him the New York Post, the only paper he hasn't devoured today.

On the cover: Paris Hilton, just released from jail. He reads the headline—V-D DAY!—and cracks up. Then he starts to read the story.

Suddenly, the quizzical Rumsfeldian look.

"Sweetheart?" he says to his wife. "What's a hair extension?"

"It's a very big thing right now," says Joyce. "I just learned about it three weeks ago."

Rummy looks on in horror as she describes—quite accurately—how it is done.

"Hmmmph," he says.

~~~~~~~~

MUST READ .. long and interesting article.

[shield]

What a great article. I’ve been so curious about what Secretary and Mrs. Rummy have been up to. Thanks.

[STARWISE]

PING~~!

[Bahbah]

Ventana, is the rest of this as bad as the exerpt? You can save me some time and some pain here.

[STARWISE]

Bah, the author is rather amateurish and somewhat snarky, but I love Rummy and enjoyed overlooking her flaws to their life today.

[Bahbah]

Okay, STARWISE. I feel the same about him. I’ll plow through it.

[STARWISE]

Plow through ... you’ll mostly enjoy the personal insights ..there’re many. Let me know what you thought.

I think he’s an absolutely singularly amazing man ... lovely and endearing couple, too.

We were lucky to have him when we did. What he was tasked with doing (re-shaping the entire military) while fighting these horrendous beasts, (and getting educated by fire in their totally asymmetrical and vicious warfare tactics) was a gargantuan task very few men half his age could’ve handled.

He’s a true patriot and leader.

[NordP]

We have four -- and SnarlinCubBear knows about our having them...I'm kinda known as the Dachshund Lady. Snarlin posted a picture of a lady with Dachshund wallpaper, fabric on her apron, and I don't remember what all around her---along with the many, many Doxies she was attempting to bathe. It was a cute pic.

You are so right about everything you wrote, AND they are really really smart, too.

[NordP]

So true. Rummy is one of the best of the best in America!

[Just mythoughts]

I’m a Rummy fan. I got to see him a few times in Iraq when he visited. Most impressive man. Surly he’s getting older and his energy level as well as mental acuity is fading. Nonetheless, he was one of the most qualified as well as influential SECDEFs our nation has ever had. He was the right man, at the right place and time after 9-11.

If I read your post correctly I send you my sincere thanks for serving our nation. May God Bless you and yours.

I can only imagine what it would be like to meet Rummy, or get to listen to him speak in person. He is my hero, and it was pure delight to watch him deal with the media hounds.

[fishergirl]

I remember the picture of the lady! I think it was an advertisement for a certain type of kitchen sink. They ARE smart! Our son’s dachshund is a piebald (I’d never seen one before) and ours is a blue dapple, he’ll be four months old Sept. 24th and is absolutely hilarious.