# How in the World is Rumsfeld Still Sec'y of Defense? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 7, 2006, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-in-the-world-is-rumsfeld-still-secy-of-defense/379444 "2006-11-07T16:59:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2006, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-in-the-world-is-rumsfeld-still-secy-of-defense/379444/41 "2006-11-08T17:58:59Z")
[QUOTE=treis] Slowpokes. [/QUOTE] At least they’re doing better than the Washington Post: [Democrats’ win alone won’t drive Rumsfeld out](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/08/AR2006110800894.html) ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2006, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-in-the-world-is-rumsfeld-still-secy-of-defense/379444/42 "2006-11-08T18:00:04Z")
[QUOTE=treis] Slowpokes. [/QUOTE] It’s those damn internet tubes getting all jammed up again. ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2006, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-in-the-world-is-rumsfeld-still-secy-of-defense/379444/43 "2006-11-08T18:00:53Z")
Top banner on [CNN.com](http://CNN.com) right now says Rumsfeld stepping down. No story yet… ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2006, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-in-the-world-is-rumsfeld-still-secy-of-defense/379444/44 "2006-11-08T18:01:47Z")
Yay! I think this OP is what finally convinced Bush and Rummy it was time. Or maybe not… ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2006, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-in-the-world-is-rumsfeld-still-secy-of-defense/379444/45 "2006-11-08T18:02:08Z")
[QUOTE=Cluricaun] Top banner on [CNN.com](http://CNN.com) right now says Rumsfeld stepping down. No story yet… [/QUOTE] You know, you write a post and then take a phone call before hitting submit… :smack: It’s impossible to keep up around here I tells ya. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2006, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-in-the-world-is-rumsfeld-still-secy-of-defense/379444/46 "2006-11-08T18:03:11Z")
Hot fucking **damn!** _ **Does happy dance** _ ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2006, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-in-the-world-is-rumsfeld-still-secy-of-defense/379444/47 "2006-11-08T18:03:46Z")
BBC confirmed. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2006, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-in-the-world-is-rumsfeld-still-secy-of-defense/379444/48 "2006-11-08T18:04:03Z")
[QUOTE=Squink] At least they’re doing better than the Washington Post: [Democrats’ win alone won’t drive Rumsfeld out](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/08/AR2006110800894.html) [/QUOTE] It ain’t Dewey Beats Truman, but still a bit of an unfortunate headline, eh? ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2006, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-in-the-world-is-rumsfeld-still-secy-of-defense/379444/49 "2006-11-08T18:05:34Z")
AP: [GOP says Rumsfeld is stepping down](http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061108/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/rumsfeld_resigns_4) > [@](#): > > Republican officials said Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is stepping down. Word came a day after the Democratic gains in the election, in which Rumsfeld was a focus of much of the criticism of the Iraq war. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2006, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-in-the-world-is-rumsfeld-still-secy-of-defense/379444/50 "2006-11-08T18:08:43Z")
Bob Gates, ex-CIA official is Shrub’s choice to replace Rummy. ---
**Author:** ![vibrotronica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2006, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-in-the-world-is-rumsfeld-still-secy-of-defense/379444/51 "2006-11-08T19:17:53Z")
“Can you see them, Rummy?” “I can see them George! I can see the rabbits!” _blam_ ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2006, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-in-the-world-is-rumsfeld-still-secy-of-defense/379444/52 "2006-11-08T19:26:02Z")
Is it just me, or is a vote of confidence the absolute last thing you want from anybody in any business? I mean, when a manager/coach in professional sports gets the vote of confidence it’s almost always the last thing he hears before he’s fired. In the business world it’s the same thing. And, of course, we have the infamous “You’re doing a heckuva job, Brownie” a scant few days before he got the gate. Rumsfeld could not have deluded himself into thinking that he was going to be kept, could he? If he was thinking that he was staying he was the only person in the world that didn’t know that his head was on the block. ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2006, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-in-the-world-is-rumsfeld-still-secy-of-defense/379444/53 "2006-11-08T19:47:02Z")
I’m glad that Rumsfeld is gone, although I wonder how much a new guy could really change things at this juncture…at least in Iraq. It may be way too late to keep it together. Definitely not a job I’d want! I wish the new secretary luck. [QUOTE=Contrapuntal] It’s those damn internet tubes getting all jammed up again. [/QUOTE] At this point I think the internet needs an enema. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2006, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-in-the-world-is-rumsfeld-still-secy-of-defense/379444/54 "2006-11-08T20:35:02Z")
[QUOTE=jjimm] You lot so need an elected cabinet. [/QUOTE] Well then I suppose “you lot” do too. Yours isn’t elected either, but appointed by the PM. They are elected to the Commons, I suppose, but it’s not as if their constituents are going, “Let’s see, Michael Howard for Chancellor? Yes, that sounds nice”. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2006, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-in-the-world-is-rumsfeld-still-secy-of-defense/379444/55 "2006-11-08T20:41:41Z")
[QUOTE=Really Not All That Bright] Well then I suppose “you lot” do too. Yours isn’t elected either, but appointed by the PM. They are elected to the Commons, I suppose, but it’s not as if their constituents are going, “Let’s see, Michael Howard for Chancellor? Yes, that sounds nice”. [/QUOTE] Absolutely true. Some [aren’t even electee](http://politics.guardian.co.uk/labour/story/0,9061,1480353,00.html). But at least, however imperfect the system, _some_ of them are accountable to _someone_ other than the leader. Unlike Rummy. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2006, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-in-the-world-is-rumsfeld-still-secy-of-defense/379444/56 "2006-11-08T20:53:07Z")
This thread is now irrelevant. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2006, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-in-the-world-is-rumsfeld-still-secy-of-defense/379444/57 "2006-11-08T21:19:49Z")
[QUOTE=The Flying Dutchman] This thread is now irrelevant. [/QUOTE] Thanks for sharing. Help yourself to some coffee on the way out. ---
**Author:** ![Throatwarbler\_Mangrove](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8c91f0/32.png) [@Throatwarbler\_Mangrove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Throatwarbler_Mangrove)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2006, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-in-the-world-is-rumsfeld-still-secy-of-defense/379444/58 "2006-11-08T21:20:58Z")
**Gangster Octopus** is either: 1. George W. Bush or 1. Quite the prescient. Maybe he should give out stock market advice too? ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-in-the-world-is-rumsfeld-still-secy-of-defense/379444/59 "2006-11-09T20:08:53Z")
Rummy was the GWB’s lightning rod. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2006, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-in-the-world-is-rumsfeld-still-secy-of-defense/379444/60 "2006-11-11T15:30:25Z")
One of them. Cheney and Rove are still there. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-in-the-world-is-rumsfeld-still-secy-of-defense/379444.md?page=2)