What If Donald Rumsfeld had never been born?

[Eric J in MN]

http://MoveLeft.com

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has blood on his hands.

From the shock-and-bombing which killed many Iraqi civiians, to the torture at Abu Ghraib (notes).

But since this is the "Friday Fun" article, those incidents won't be examined here.

Instead, we'll look at a happier world. A world in which Donald Rumsfeld was never born.

We visit that better world through the imagination of Maureen Dowd, in her takeoff on the 1946 Jimmy Steward movie, "It's a Wonderful Life.."

To continue, click below:
http://www.moveleft.com/moveleft_essay_2004_12_31_friday_fun_what_if_donald_rumsfeld_had_never_been_born.asp

[Eric J in MN]

1. kick

kick

[Crunchy Frog]

2. Unfortunately, there would be someone just as vile

as him in that spot. There's no shortage of vile people for the * regime to draw on.

The policies are *'s and Cheney's. The other people just carry it out.

[Eric J in MN]

3. Maureen Dowd implies that Dick Cheny wouldn't have

been in the Ford Administration if not for Rumsfled, and wouldn't have become vice president, and that would have changed the world for the better.

http://www.moveleft.com/moveleft_essay_2004_12_31_friday_fun_what_if_donald_rumsfeld_had_never_been_born.asp

[rman]

9. Then someone like Cheney would have been

in the Ford Administration (or anotehr adminstration) because of someone like Rumsfeld.

It requires only a few ambitious sociopaths to screws up the world. There are few of those but they're not entirely unique.

Saying it's all down to Rumsfeld is like saying terrorism is all down to Osama.

It's a hopefull fantasy but it is a dangerous oversimplification to take it literally.

[K-W]

10. I dont think anyone is saying that it all boils down t him.

Simply that he played a particularly large role in the bad course things have taken and wed be better off had he not been born.

You are reading too much into it.

[izzie]

4. Clarence would be working on his second set of wings?

I am still in shock over Jeb. If the world does not think this President is off the wall already this should really do it.

[Eric J in MN]

5. Clarence has his wings in the story, and

doesn't need another set, but he's being angelic by showing Rumsfeld how much better the world would be if Rumsfeld had never been born.

Doing a service to the universe by letting Rumsfeld know how despicable he is.

http://www.moveleft.com/moveleft_essay_2004_12_31_friday_fun_what_if_donald_rumsfeld_had_never_been_born.asp

[Eric J in MN]

14. We need to elect Jeb Bush in 2008, because he is the

hero of the Tsunami, just like George W. is the hero of 9/11.

</sarcasm>

[joe1991]

6. Don't forget Aspartame

May 1974 -Attorney, Jim Turner (consumer advocate who was instrumental in getting cyclamate taken off the market) meets with Searle representatives to discuss Dr. Olney's 1971 study which showed that aspartic acid caused holes in the brains of infant mice.

March 24, 1976 -Turner and Olney's petition triggers an FDA investigation of the laboratory practices of aspartame's manufacturer, G.D. Searle. The investigation finds Searle's testing procedures shoddy, full of inaccuracies and "manipulated" test data. The investigators report they "had never seen anything as bad as Searle's testing."

January 21, 1981 -Ronald Reagan is sworn in as President of the United States. Reagan's transition team, which includes Donald
Rumsfeld, CEO of G. D. Searle, hand picks Dr. Arthur Hull Hayes Jr. to be the new FDA Commissioner.

July 15, 1981 -In one of his first official acts, Dr. Arthur Hayes Jr., the new FDA commissioner, overrules the Public Board of Inquiry, ignores the recommendations of his own internal FDA team and approves NutraSweet for dry products.

September, 1983 -FDA Commissioner Hayes resigns under a cloud of controversy about his taking unauthorized rides aboard a General Foods jet. (General foods is a major customer of NutraSweet) Burson-Marsteller, Searle's public relation firm (which also represented several of NutraSweet's major users), immediately hires Hayes as senior scientific consultant.

http://www.swankin-turner.com/hist.html

[Eric J in MN]

7. Thanks, that is new to me (nt)

nt

[nascarblue]

8. Wolfowitz or Pearle

[Fla Dem]

11. What if George Bush had never been born is the more appropriate question.

[Eric J in MN]

13. That's true. He would never have hired people like Rumsfeld

and Cheney if he had never been born.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

12. better: what if roves mother had died before conception......or

or georges mom barbara...how about cheney's

[Eric J in MN]

15. The Maurreen Dowd piece speculates that George W.

would have chosen Chuck Hagel for a running mate, since Cheney wouldn't have been in the Ford Admin. if not Rumsfeld.