Rumsfeld: "If You Believe Everything You Read In Maureen Dowd, You'd Better Get A Life"...

USA Today March 23, 2006 at 02:54 PM
READ MORE: George W. Bush
At a news conference that's still underway, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was just asked about calls by some critics that he resign or that President Bush remove him from his post.

"Those kinds of calls have been going on for five years," Rumsfeld said. "The president has asked me not to get involved in politics and that's politics."

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Read The Maureen Down Column Rumsfeld Was Reacting To

NY Times MAUREEN DOWD March 23, 2006 at 04:59 PM
READ MORE: 2006, New York Times, Iraq

...One administration official says that Rummy does not hold the same sway in meetings anymore, that he's treated as an eccentric old uncle who pops off and is ignored. But why can't W. just quit him? Instead, the president praised him for doing "a fine job" on two wars and transforming the military, when Rummy actually bullied the military to go along with his foolish schemes in Iraq and has sapped the once-feared fighting machine.

At his impromptu press conference yesterday, the president presented himself as a nice guy doing a difficult job, relentlessly joshing with reporters. He chided the press for playing into terrorists' goals by showing bad news from Iraq -- "they're capable of blowing up innocent life so it ends up on your TV show" -- even as reports surfaced about insurgents outside Baghdad storming a jail, slaughtering 18 police officers and letting the prisoners out, following fast upon an insurgent raid on Iraqi Army headquarters in Kirkuk. Does the president think TV will instead report on an increase in melon sales at the market?...

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