BUSH's Bald Face Lie Regarding Rummy's Departure

[kpete]

President's Evasion Raises Truth Issues
Remarks on Rumsfeld Questioned
By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, November 10, 2006; Page A04

Did the president of the United States make a rare admission on national television that he had told an untruth?

....................

Six days before the election, Bush told three wire-service reporters in an interview that Rumsfeld and Vice President Cheney were doing "fantastic" jobs.

"You see them staying with you until the end?" asked Terence Hunt of the Associated Press.

"I do," Bush replied.

"So you're expecting Rumsfeld, Secretary Rumsfeld, to stay on the rest of your time here?" asked Steve Holland of Reuters.

"Yes, I am," the president said.

...............................

The president added that he had not made a definitive decision because he had not held his "last" conversation with Rumsfeld and had not yet spoken to Robert Gates, his nominee to take over the Pentagon.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/09/AR2006110901817.html



Removal of Rumsfeld Dates Back to Summer

By JIM RUTENBERG
Published: November 10, 2006
WASHINGTON, Nov. 9 — President Bush was moving by late summer toward removing Donald H. Rumsfeld as defense secretary, people inside and outside the White House said Thursday. Weeks before Election Day, the essential question still open was when, not whether, to make the move.

Mr. Bush ultimately postponed action until after the election in part because of concern that to remove Mr. Rumsfeld earlier could be interpreted by critics as political opportunism or as ratifying their criticism of the White House war plan in the heart of the campaign, the White House insiders and outsiders said.

The White House has refused to divulge the behind-the-scenes maneuvering that went into Mr. Rumsfeld’s announced resignation on Wednesday. Those who were interviewed would speak only on condition of anonymity, but included officials at the White House and those in a close circle of outside advisers. They said the administration had been engaged in painful off-again-on-again discussions about Mr. Rumsfeld’s ouster for months, even as Mr. Bush said repeatedly that Mr. Rumsfeld was his man for Iraq.

The delay in Mr. Rumsfeld’s departure was painful for some Republicans, who have argued that his continued presence in the administration was politically counterproductive. Some complained Thursday that the resignation had come too late to be any help during an election in which Mr. Rumsfeld became a whipping boy for Democratic, and eventually some Republican, candidates.

more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/10/washington/10rumsfeld.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

[DoYouEverWonder]

1. I'm glad Bush lied about Rumsfeld

It cost the Repugs the Senate.

[Skidmore]

2. If * is breathing, he is lying.

It's a given.

[babylonsister]

3. And from Howie, the * enabler, no less! Of course he lied. He

must think he's getting good at it. Or sumthin'. :eyes:

[bullimiami]

4. bush lied but i dont think kurtz has a clue about the details.

he is formulating conclutions from stories that were planted by the WH and Rove.
i dont believe any of it for a minute.

bush lied, obviously, because 2 contradicting stories cant both be true. but which is? i dont think anyone outside the WH knows.

[Cooley Hurd]

5. It might go down as the biggest political blunder in US history...

Publicly backing two of the LEAST popular members of his administration a few days before the election - pulling their ouster OFF the table - was the proverbial final nail in the RNC's coffin.

I feared, in the run-up to 11/7, that the October/November Surprise was going to be Rummy's ouster or Cheney's "retirement."

[JDPriestly]

6. He lied about Rumsfeld exactly the same way he lied about

Iraq. Interesting. This is his modus operandi. He thinks that if he believes he has a good strategical reason for lying, it doesn't count as a lie. That's like Clinton saying, I lied about Monica Lewinsky because I did not want to hurt my wife or the Democratic Party. A lie is a lie. People don't like being lied to. I don't like being lied to. Bush thinks he can lie with impunity. Congress needs to call him on this.

[Hubert Flottz]

7. Bush is always"PLAYING POLITICS" with the Truth!

He has since day one!