Rumsfeld

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is a tough nut and not one who wants to be cracked.

But what amazes me is that all the criticism recently is entirely centered on his performance at the ad hoc "town hall" style meeting between troops, something Bush never would have allowed for himself because his audiences are always so carefully vetted.

Rumsfeld's shortcomings, failures, and outright disasters began long before that meeting and his poor answers. Knowing that, Bush chose to keep him on in the role.

If you decide to flush Rummy, then flush him for the right reasons: not listening to the troop needs, underestimating what would happen in Iraq, blowing off the results that occurred, not finding Osama in Afghanistan, and so much else. Don't just oust him because it's popular.

All this will do is have Bush replace him with someone even worse. That town hall meeting was telling. I guarantee you the next Defense Secretary won't allow this to happen (oh, the circumstances yes, but not a meeting where the troops can call him out on it).