Gill/Rumsfeld Interview, The Guantanamo Fat Farm

[sandnsea]

It always stuns me when I read something like this. We have a tendency in the liberal/left/Democratic blogosphere to believe the mainstream media are whoring for the Bush Administration either to appease their corporate bosses or to keep their access to the White House.

But that doesn’t really explain somebody like Steve Gill and this interview with Donald Rumsfeld. You couldn’t have a better piece of White House PR if Karl Rove had written the script himself. Steve does seem to be a caring sort of guy, he has released a solution to the TennCare woes, which he calls TNCares. In part, he proposes everybody pay something, say $30-$50 per month for care and also get loans to cover the deductible. Bless his heart, does he not understand that $30 a month is just a drop in the bucket and that people making $5.00 an hour would never be able to pay back $2,000 annual deductibles. You’d be asking people to pay a monthly fee for the privilege of taking out up to $2,000 a year in low-interest loans that they’ll never be able to pay back.

Anyhoo, here’s some key portions of the hard-hitting Gill/Rumsfeld “interview”::

“..Gill: I used the word death throes. I don't want to play semantics -- There does seem to have been some debate on how much progress we've made. Are they in their death throes? Is it a semantic debate or is there any real disagreement in the administration or with the military personnel on the kind of progress we have made in Iraq and in Afghanistan?

Rumsfeld: No, I don't know of any disagreement among the military personnel or the civilian people in the administration with respect to the situation in Afghanistan. The fact is that they have been on a steady path of progress politically, economically and militarily. Now, I think the Vice President said they're in their last throes, but I thought that was about Iraq and not Afghanistan.

Gill: Again, you're going to continue to see surges of violence from time to time --

Rumsfeld: Sure.

Gill: -- these are dangerous parts of the world…”

“Gill: ..Obviously the controversy of Guantanamo was also in the news again this week where another commission has determined that there may have been some level of abuse in some instances. But torture is much too harsh of a term to use for what's been going on down there.

Rumsfeld: That's right. Guantanamo has been operated exceedingly well. The people down there are doing a terrific job. The allegations that have been made, the characterization to call it a Gulag and compare it to Pol Pot and to things that have been said in the United States Senate are so inaccurate and damaging…

“Gill: I understand some of these folks that have been detained down there have actually gained weight eating down there. That's the main reason I'm not going down there, Mr. Secretary, I don't need to add any more to what we've got.

Rumsfeld: (Laughter).”

Unfrigginreal. In the words of Saxby Chambliss, “My stomach gave out”.

LINKS:
http://www.lightupthedarkness.org/blog/?view=plink&id=1282

[greekspeak]

1. Oh Christ on a Crutch. Gained weight?

Does the article go on to tell about the personal Swedish masseuses, the tennis lessons and the Bentleys they all drive around? Fuck this guy.

[sandnsea]

2. You missed the laughter

That was especially charming. (I always forget brackets are for coding and don't show up)

[greekspeak]

3. Har Har Har. I can just hear the old fart laughin like an evil Anti-Grampa

Har Har Har. Ho Ho Ho. You are too funny. Har Har Har. My heart is almost as black as Dick Cheney's. Ho Ho Ho.