Rumsfield Running Scared?

[Ellie]

CNN

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, for years the most public face of the Bush administration's war on terrorism, has suddenly become scarce.....

Burdened by the Iraq prisoner abuse scandal and constrained by the presidential election campaign, the Pentagon chief who spearheaded the Afghanistan and Iraq wars has been relegated to a less visible role.

Once seemingly in danger of being fired over the prisoner abuse, Rumsfeld appears to have survived. Yet some wonder whether the White House might still conclude he is a political liability and prefer he leave this summer.

"Donald Rumsfeld has gone from being the most popular spokesperson for the Bush administration policies to something of a pariah," said Loren Thompson of the Lexington Institute, a think tank.

"Whereas before the White House was happy to see him speaking in public whenever he chose, now it kind of cringes for fear of what the results might be," Thompson added.

Various U.S. public opinion polls show the defense secretary's popularity on the decline.

He was viewed favorably by two-thirds two years ago and almost as many at the start of the war in March 2003. By last September his favorable rating was just above 50 percent, and the most recent poll, in February, had it slipping about 10 points further.

For a time after the Abu Ghraib scandal, it looked as though Rumsfeld might be forced out. On May 5, White House aides leaked word that President Bush had told Rumsfeld he was unhappy about not being told about the abuse sooner.

Two days later, during an appearance before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Rumsfeld apologized for the abusive conduct and said he accepted full responsibility.

Is he running scared?

[theburningliberal]

It definitely would not surprise me. If Rumsfeld is becoming that unpopular, Bush would not want to ruin his election chances by allowing Rumsfeld's face to be seen too often. Many would interpret that as a sign of endorsing him, and if Rumsfeld is that unpopular, Bush wouldn't want to make a display of endorsing Rumsfeld, and thus hurting his re-election chances.

[Ellie]

At 7/17/04 02:28 AM, theburningliberal wrote: Many would interpret that as a sign of endorsing him, and if Rumsfeld is that unpopular, Bush wouldn't want to make a display of endorsing Rumsfeld, and thus hurting his re-election chances.

Thats exactly what i was thinking...

[Gunter45]

The Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal was a pretty horrendous sight. It's hard to see how the blame goes all the way up to Rumsfield, but that's just the way it works I guess. On a little bit of a tangent: I don't support what happened in the least, but I find it a little less than concerting that I don't see people whining and crying about how American prisoners are treated. A little hipocritical and sad, if you ask me. Back on topic, I would have to agree that as unpopular as Rumsfield is, it seems that Bush would have little recourse than to drop him, other than the fact that combat operations in Iraq, while relagated to a mostly defensive stance, are still going on. It's kind of a difficult situation to be in, on one hand, in order to stay afloat in Washington, you have to play to people's preferences, however there is a great responsibility to finish what we've started in Iraq, which, I think, did tremendous good by removing Hussein from power, even if that leaves one heck of a gap to fill. I guess we can only hope that the balance of power over there settles down some more while the US Armed Forces are still there to prevent another charismatic dictator like Hussein was.

[antiklaus]

At 7/17/04 02:19 AM, calizor wrote: CNN

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, for years the most public face of the Bush administration's war on terrorism, has suddenly become scarce.....

And wait... this is a BAD thing?

I can tink of nothing better for the Rebel Forces that Darth Rumsfeld to go into hiding... unless of course he's building a secret W.M.Deathstar somewhere..

[NoHitHair]

I don't think anyone said it was a bad thing.

[Ellie]

At 7/17/04 06:37 AM, antiklaus wrote:

At 7/17/04 02:19 AM, calizor wrote: CNN

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, for years the most public face of the Bush administration's war on terrorism, has suddenly become scarce.....

And wait... this is a BAD thing?

i never said it was a bad thing did i??