[Turey]

The Senate must confirm this nomination for Gates to become Secretary.

muahahahahahahahhaha!!!!!!

Too bad his name is Robert and not William.

[vyper]

The Senate must confirm this nomination for Gates to become Secretary.

muahahahahahahahhaha!!!!!!

Too bad his name is Robert and not William.

"Secretary Gates today defended the current situation in Iraq stating that the US body count was, in fact, an undocumented 'feature' of the war on terror."

[redsniper]

Gates is currently the president of my university.

[spartan_0214]

As Johnny Depp once put it:

Whoop, man down!

[perihelion]

Good grief!  You mean we actually get to be free from that hypocritical bastard?  I mean, a promotion wasn't exactly the mode of exit I had in mind, but he's been a thorn in the side of A&M since the moment he took office.  I had to sit through his commencement pontificating when my wife got her Ph.D, and I swear I was ready to start throwing things.  He practically stood there and masturbated in front of the whole graduating class listing his "triumphs."  I mean, seriously, on the day that is supposed to belong to the graduates and their families?

[passive-aggressive muttering...]

But Secretary of Defense... maybe this isn't such a good thing after all...

...crap

[redmenace]

People in the DoD are actually looking forward to the change, especially since he has been a long term civil servant.

[Mr. Vega]

So we're replacing Rummy with one of Oliver North's buddies. Great.

[perihelion]

He may well be an improvement for the DoD, and I certainly welcome his hasty departure from College Station... but as bad as Rummy was, I'm not going to be the naive one to say, "Hey, Gates can't be any worse!"  I witnessed a less than savory change at A&M once Gates took over, so I'm sure not enthusiastic about him taking on a position this important.

'sides, his ego could be mistaken for a small moon.  [/sullen]

[Rictor]

My crystal ball says that this won't affect the situation in Iraq much, nor US actions abroad for that matter. They're getting rid of Rumsfeld, but likely not Rumsfeld's way of doing things.

As a side note, who wants to play "guess the fall-guy" once the Democratic Congress starts investigating the various semi-criminal ****ups of the last few years. Maybe Rummy resigned the limit the damage once an unfriendly House starts looking at who exactly is to blame, so the GOP can all point and say "it was all him!".

I'm also surprised by yet another veteran of Iran-Contra being sworn into a high office. What is it, the third or fourth person now? It's practically a pre-requisite to getting a promotion, or so it seems. And how ironic that the same people who sold Iran missles are now blabbing about the imminent danger of...Iranian missles.

[IceFire]

I'm also surprised by yet another veteran of Iran-Contra being sworn into a high office. What is it, the third or fourth person now? It's practically a pre-requisite to getting a promotion, or so it seems. And how ironic that the same people who sold Iran missles are now blabbing about the imminent danger of...Iranian missles.

Who better to know and recognize the danger...right....right....?

"Hey Jim, isn't that one of our missiles?"

"But they said they wouldn't use them on us!"

[aldo_14]

I'm also surprised by yet another veteran of Iran-Contra being sworn into a high office. What is it, the third or fourth person now?

Well, now that Ortegas' been elected in Nicaragua.....

[Mefustae]

Exactly how much power does the SecDef get?

[NGTM-1R]

A fair bit if they choose to exercise it. The SecDef is the implementation man when the President gives the broad orders, and will handle the specifics. The smart ones just pass the broad-strokes back and forth: let the President know what the military thinks it can do and let military work out the specifics of what the President wants. The not-so-smart attempt to exercise tactical control. (This happened during several periods in Vietnam, and it's at least partly responsible for the Iraq ****ups.)

[brozozo]

What I think is ironic is that I believe this Gates guy was on the cover of the most recent Texas Monthly with a headline to the effect of "Can this man save A&M?"

[aldo_14]

What I think is ironic is that I believe this Gates guy was on the cover of the most recent Texas Monthly with a headline to the effect of "Can this man save A&M?"

Was there a big "NO" in the inside cover?

[perihelion]

Yeah, I saw that front page as well.

   I was unaware A&M needed saving, let alone from that fathead.

[aldo_14]

Yay!

Bolton on his way out; http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6134734.stm

[IPAndrews]

I love the way Bush announced it. That between them they decided it was best if he accepted Rumsfeld's resignation. Yes I bet. 

[Kosh]

The administration appears to be in full retreat...for the moment.

[Nuclear1]

The administration appears to be in full retreat...for the moment.

No, if they were in full retreat, Bush would have resigned.  Bush is just making concessions to avoid his staff being swarmed by the Democrats during the last two years.  If anything, the Democrats should be thanking him--he's lessening the temptation for the majority to start tearing every member of the administration to shreds and therefore making a showing as overconfident, greedy pricks in 2008.  The Democrats have to focus more on correcting the Republicans' wrongs now, not pointing the finger and blaming people.