Phew, glad Rumsfeld explained that for us

[ReaperFett]

http://www.itv.com/news/342988.html

He knows :)

[Jedi Master Carr]

LOL that is hilarious.

[JMK]

Is Seinfeld writing his speeches these days or what?

[Darth Viscera]

I understood what he was trying to say.

[Wei Wu Wei]

Yeah, I understood it too. But probably only because it was written out.

[Dutchy]

Rumsfeld... *shudders*

[Droo]

Originally posted by Darth Viscera
I understood what he was trying to say.

With the emphasis on trying! :lol

[Jedieb]

I understood what he was saying because there are understandable statements; that is to say there are some statements we understand. But there are also some misunderstood statements - the statements we don't understand are misunderstood understandable statements - the statements we know we don't understand.

[ReaperFett]

Understandable :)

[Master Yoghurt]

I understood everything he said, but it was funny and typical politicians to say something like that. Needlessly complex and obvious at the same time :)

[Darth Viscera]

but he hasn't been a politician since 1969, when he resigned from Congress. His business is running the Pentagon, not party politics.

[Master Yoghurt]

Yet, Pentagon is all about politics

[JediBoricua]

To me that's a misconception Visc. You don't have to be elected to be a politician.

True Rummy's job is to run the Pentagon. Yet he appears frequently on interview shows, gives dozens of press conferences a month, and follows the party line. Karl Rove is as involved with what Rummy says as he is involved with what Bush says. That's just the way it is. Cabinet members usually are not involved with the everyday numbers and administrative tasks of their agency, for that they have permanent staff that works there no matter who is in power. Secretaries are named to make sure the president's policy are implemented, because that is why the people voted for him/her.

Rumsfeld understand that the success or failure of his tasks, of the war against terror, of the war in Iraq etc, will be considered Bush's failure or success also. Thus he must act accordingly to the party line and work for the party to win the 2004 election.

This is not something bad being done by this administration, nor is it inmoral IMO. Every President, Governor, Mayor etc has to name politicians to his/her cabinet, and everyone does it because the government is after all a political body.

[Darth Viscera]

I'm thinking of the derogatory definition of politician. That is, he's not a person primarily interested in political office for selfish or other narrow usually short-sighted reasons.