AP Finally Gets Rumsfeld Letter

This morning, the Washington Post says the Associated Press had to make “multiple” Freedom of Information requests before getting to see former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s resignation letter. The letter was sent on November 6, 2006. That was a day before the election that gave Congress to the Democrats. The letter is stamped “The President Has Seen” with a handwritten date “11/7/06. Election day. The Prez announced the resignation a day after the election. WaPo says, “Asked why the president did not announce Rumsfeld's resignation as soon as he learned of it (Deputy White House press secretary Dana Perino) Perino said that Bush was wary of influencing the ongoing vote. "I know that one of the things that the president wanted to avoid was the appearance of trying to make this a political decision," she said. "And that was very important to him, and I think that the American people can appreciate not playing politics with such an important decision." Have you noticed how often the Bush flacks claim to be privy to the thoughts in the minds of the American people? They feel sure the American people “can appreciate”, “will understand”, “will support”, “feel strongly” and the like. When, in fact, the Repubs are clueless about the desires of the American people. Not only are they clueless, they have no desire to know what Americans think. They only want to pontificate on what they think Americans should think. But in the above instance, Perino is right. The American people do appreciate that playing politics on important decisions is a crummy tactic. And the American people believe it's a tactic that never should be used by leaders in government. Yet, while claiming not to play politics, the Prez was playing politics. The other most-used ploy in the Bush administration is to claim something that is false is true, and something that is true is false. The US doesn’t torture people. Yes, it does. There is no civil war in Iraq. Yes, there is. The surge in Iraq is working. No, it isn’t. Bush is not considering a draft. Yes, he is. The president does not routinely take prescription medicine. Of course he does. He couldn’t get through a day without his scrips, meds, and little pharmaceutical helpers. The thing that is very helpful, though, is knowing that whoever or whatever is programming the Prez is totally consistent. If the president makes a statement, the opposite always is true.