Message: Rumsfeld Cares

The President's defense of his Secretary of Defense (and by association, his own policies) has grown even more pathetic:
Accused of being insensitive to U.S. soldiers in Iraq and their families, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld received a fresh endorsement Monday from President Bush, who called him "a caring fellow."

"I have heard the anguish in his voice and seen his eyes when we talk about the danger in Iraq and the fact that youngsters are over there in harm's way," Bush said at a White House news conference....

"I know Secretary Rumsfeld's heart," Bush said. "I know how much he cares for the troops," adding that Rumsfeld and his wife visit hospitalized soldiers "all the time to provide comfort and solace."

He said beneath Rumsfeld's "rough and gruff, no-nonsense demeanor is a good human being who cares deeply about the military and deeply about the grief that war causes."

First we were told that Donald Rumsfeld was "the best secretary of defense the United States ever had", now he is just "caring fellow". This is a particularly unoriginal move by President Bush, who played the compassion card to defend himself when his own job was in trouble. If Rumsfeld is as caring as Bush says he is, perhaps he should leave the Defense Department and spend the rest of his days as a counselor to thousands left in grief by his war.


Note: My closing suggestion was shamelessly lifted from here.