Rummy Visits Iraq

How many of Rumsfeld’s critics can say they went into harm’s way to visit troops in Iraq?

U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld visited wounded soldiers and brought holiday greetings on Christmas Eve amid tight security at an air base in northern Iraq where an insurgent’s attack killed 14 U.S. troops and eight other people earlier this week.
Hoping to demonstrate compassion for the troops’ sacrifices, Rumsfeld landed in darkness and walked immediately from his plane to a combat surgical hospital where many of the bombing victims were treated after Tuesday’s lunchtime attack on a mess tent. The most seriously wounded already have been transferred to a U.S. military hospital in Germany.

Defending Donald Rumsfeld

There is, as they say, blood in the water and the sharks are circling. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, blindsided with a planted question and a maladroit answer, is perceived by the opponents of the Bush Administration as being weakened and ready for the political chopping block – friends have fallen silent while supposed allies in his own Party are joining the chorus of criticism from an American leftwing which only knows how to criticise. What is to be done?
First and foremost, it should be kept in mind that the actual target is not Donald Rumsfeld, but President Bush – the reason that a McCain or a Lott might pile on is more in the fact that the latter is still stung by being forced out his Senate leadership with Presidential agreement while the former is still smarting from a defeat at the hands of the President in 2000; for the left, they just hate the President with a white-hot passion and any club which comes to hand will be wielded with abandon. Make no mistake about it – if the President’s opponents obtain the political head of Donald Rumsfeld, they will not stop at that; they will press eagerly for more, ultimately leading up to an attempt to topple the President himself. We cannot allow this – for two reasons; the first is that in a time of war we cannot allow people to hamstring the government for partisan or personal reasons; the second, and far more important, is that Donald Rumsfeld is entirely too valuable a public servant to lose.

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No Go For Joe

CNN reports that Lieberman ain’t interested.

Democratic Sen. Joe Lieberman has twice in recent days said “no” when approached about the possibility of a major job in the second Bush administration, CNN has learned.
The Cabinet vacancy at the Department of Homeland Security was the subject of the latest overture, according to congressional and other government sources. Those sources said the earlier overture was to see whether Lieberman might be interested in becoming the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
White House officials declined comment, saying they do not discuss personnel matters.
The Connecticut senator was traveling and not immediately available for comment. His spokesman said the senator had not received a formal job offer and was not seeking a new job, but the spokesman said he could not comment on whether the senator has spoken to administration officials or emissaries about the possibility of joining the Republican administration.
Lieberman, who was former Vice President Al Gore’s running mate in 2000, authored the legislation that created the Department of Homeland Security and co-sponsored the resolution giving President Bush the authority to go to war with Iraq.

Not that this is major news… I doubt Lieberman was actually seriously considered for the job.

Is Lieberman Back In The Running?

Now that Kerik is out, Joe Lieberman’s name is again being tossed around as a possible replacement for Tom Ridge to head the Homeland Security Department:

The Connecticut Democrat’s status is this: He’s not denying sources’ reports that he’s been approached to join the Bush team. And while it’s a longshot Lieberman would get one of the rumored jobs: Homeland Security secretary, National Intelligence Director or United Nations ambassador – nothing can be ruled out.
Lieberman has refused to discuss the matter since the reports re-surfaced last week after an initial flurry a few weeks ago, and he maintained that position Sunday.

I think this is a bad idea. George W. Bush could “reach across the aisle” and offer the post to Lieberman… It might look good for a little while, but then we’ll have certain liberals accusing Bush of playing politics because with Lieberman as Secretary of Homeland Security he can’t be a Senator, and this would result in a special election in Connecticut to replace him. This election is bound to have a lot of money from both parties thrown at it. The Democrats will want to keep the seat blue, and the Republicans will try and get another red seat in the Senate.
In the end, Bush would never get credit for reaching out to a Democrat.
This would also give the Democrats a greater opportunity to play politics with our Homeland Security, and this is too important an issue to put the Democrats in that position.

Kerik Out

This surprised a lot of us…

In a surprise move, former New York Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik abruptly withdrew his nomination as President Bush’s choice to be homeland security secretary Friday night, saying questions have arisen about the immigration status of a housekeeper and nanny he employed.
The decision caught the White House off guard and sent Bush in search of a new candidate to run the sprawling bureaucracy of more than 180,000 employees melded together from 22 disparate federal agencies in 2003.
Kerik informed Bush of his decision to withdraw in a telephone call at 8:30 p.m. EST. “I am convinced that, for personal reasons, moving forward would not be in the best interests of your administration, the Department of Homeland Security or the American people,” Kerik said in a letter to the president.