Rumsfeld: ‘We Probably Deserve a D or a D+’ In the Battle of Ideas
By on Mar 27th, 2006 at 4:05 pm
Rumsfeld: ‘We Probably Deserve a D or a D+’ In the Battle of Ideas
Bush’s National Security Strategy claims that the battle of ideas will be the ultimate factor in deciding whether we win the war on terror:
In the long run, winning the war on terror means winning the battle of ideas, for it is ideas that can turn the disenchanted into murderers willing to kill innocent victims.
Today, Rumsfeld provided an honest assessment of the administration’s efforts to date:
RUMSFELD: If I were grading, I would say we probably deserve a D or a D-plus as a country as to how well we’re doing in the battle of ideas that’s taking place in the world today. And I’m not going to suggest that it’s easy, but we have not found the formula as a country.
Not exactly a ringing endorsement for Condoleezza Rice and Karen Hughes.
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QUICK! More Kool-Aid for Rummy!
Hurry! He’s returning to sanity!
March 27th, 2006 at 4:07 pmOh right, Rummy is a senile old fool. What the heck.
March 27th, 2006 at 4:09 pmRummy in the civilian world would you keep or promote anybody you rated at D or D+….just wondering?
March 27th, 2006 at 4:10 pmI rate them as an F-
March 27th, 2006 at 4:13 pmRummy had a brain fart.
March 27th, 2006 at 4:14 pmThe reason they are losing the battle of ideas is because you can’t battle something as irrational and extreme as terrorism using the equally irrational idea of war as a constructive force.
Terrorism survives by feeding anti-American fear and hatred. Terrorists feel they are oppressed by the US and that the US deserves to be attacked. BUt when Bush and his ADmin believe the best way to stop terrorists fears of being attacked…is to attack them well that is idiotic. Attacking like this only proves to other extremists that the terrorist organizations is right. Then impressionable citizens are pushed to the extreme when they see what is happening to innocent friends and family members who are then locked up, tortured or killed by Coalition forces under the name of stopping terrorism…from Afghanastan..or finding WMDs which they know don’t exist.
Madness all around.
March 27th, 2006 at 4:16 pm“Battle of ideas”?
This administration has ideas?
March 27th, 2006 at 4:18 pmWhy should this be any different than any other aspect of the current administration? What has Bush done that rates any better than a D or D+?
This is a direct result of putting people who don’t believe in governing in charge of all aspects of the government. Now we all know what it is like to drown in a bathtub.
March 27th, 2006 at 4:20 pmHe obviously did NOT take his medication today.
“I hold it to be the inalienable right of anybody to go to hell in his own way.” ~Robert Frost
March 27th, 2006 at 4:23 pmHe means they should have listened the Democrats instead of attacking them as anti-American, terrorist-loving traitors? Of course they should have listened.
There is no war. You cannot have a military-type war against terrorism. It is war against an ideology and needs brains not brawn. Kerry was always right and they knew it but taking Kerry’s advice would have meant no war and no war profiting. These criminals need to be brought to justice for crimes against this country and crimes against humanity.
March 27th, 2006 at 4:29 pmRummy-”we have not found the formula as a country” OOOHHHH NO YOU DON’T! This Is BushCo’s mess. Rummy was in charge of “the plan”, and I don’t seem to recall him asking for any suggestions from the Democrats. They wanted this invasion and occupation, and they got it. And to the “victors, go the “spoils”. Nice try, tho.
March 27th, 2006 at 4:31 pmYea, I can see how that “shock and awe” thing didn’t go over to well in the “battle of ideas”.
Oh, and colonization of the Middle East, that’s not too popular either. But hey, at least we can sell them Coca-Cola!
March 27th, 2006 at 4:33 pmUnfortunately, anyone with a gun can weaponize their ideas in Iraq.
March 27th, 2006 at 4:33 pm.
How about an F-
March 27th, 2006 at 4:38 pmfor Rummy, and the B-Team (wolfowitz) crazies to get the F__K out. these things Rummy speaks of this ‘Battle of bad Ideas’ goes all the Way back to Kissinger and Nuclear Arm Sales 30 years ago.
WE as a COUNTRY?
Can you believe that he said that?
RUMMY its YOU and your Neo-Con Friends that YOU speak of when you say ‘WE’
Please do not project your bad ideas or imagination upon the people of the United States that never agreed with YOU or WE Mr Rumsfeld.
Now Please Correct your English.
March 27th, 2006 at 4:41 pmWhat is this “as a country” crap. Shifting the responsibility of the state of our government and foreign policy to the entire country not the White House and staff who ARE the ones responsible for the lack of leadership in the right direction.
March 27th, 2006 at 4:42 pmGuess we’d call it top-down management.
Look at what qualifies as a leader today.
An then we have the wonderful attack dogs that help discourage free thinking and public discourse.
March 27th, 2006 at 5:06 pm#7 – Yeah, just like they have “plans.”
March 27th, 2006 at 5:16 pmI guess Rummy needs to spend more money to plant stories in the Iraqi media…
March 27th, 2006 at 5:26 pmAs it turns out, even the British ideas about how to fight the war on terror and how to handle the “war” in Iraq were thrown into the dumpster in sheer contempt. Our chickhawks could talk a better war than anybody else and they thought that is all it would take.
March 27th, 2006 at 7:13 pmCan Rummy spell Q-U-A-G-M-I-R-E? People,“we’re waist deep in the big muddy, and the big fool says to push on”
March 27th, 2006 at 7:26 pmIf the Bush Administration is doing a poor job trying to promote the “battle of ideas”, they are doing a far worse job of winning over the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people. Recently, according to the Iraqi police, American soldiers executed 11 people, including a 75 year old woman and a 6 month old child in the village of Abu Sifa, about 60 miles north of Baghdad. Apparently, their tip of an al-Qaeda operative was not all that accurate. About the same time, Time magazine reported that in Haditha, 23 Iraqi civilians were murdered, “including seven women and three children still in their nightclothes”, according to the London Independent. Incidents like these will be the reasons why the Iraqis, like the Vietnamese during the Vietnam War, will continue fighting as long as they can breathe in order to expel the United States from their homeland.
March 27th, 2006 at 7:48 pmYou know, some D students get expelled, if they keep it up long enough. Or they drop out.
March 27th, 2006 at 7:59 pmIf he gives the administration a grade of D ( and we can assume he is not being too harsh on himself) why in the hell are they still in office?
March 27th, 2006 at 7:59 pmThey should all resign en masse after begging for help in cleaning up the mess they have made.
I’d say an “F” is a more realistic grade for Rummy & the Gang on Iraq…and it’s on it way to being an “F-” as for Karen and Condi…the Girlscouts of America would do a better job at ’selling’ ideas!
March 27th, 2006 at 8:09 pmHere’s an idea. Let’s elect a Democratic majority in the House ans Senate and impeach the war criminals who got us into this mess. Then we can figure how we exit Iraq and get our international reputation back.
March 27th, 2006 at 8:38 pmRumdum gets an “I” for either incomplete assignments (war plans) or Incompetence, in which case as a soldier he should be shot at sunrise.
March 27th, 2006 at 9:49 pmRumsfeld was not discussing their (neo-con) ideas per se, but more blame the media and the criticism they are recieving as the excuse for why they are losing the debate about Iraq and the grade that he self-assigns.
Also, notice Rumsfeld speech was in front of an Army college (name escapes me at the moment). These clowns dress themselves up in the army and continually undercut that same military who they send to die for whatever reason of the moment.
March 27th, 2006 at 10:16 pmNot only that, but I’d give them a D or D+ in the actually battle of battling, given how they’ve handled the actual fighting of the insurgency. Our response to the insurgency has included the not-so-useful counter-insurgency tactics of precision bombing of houses full of civilians, night-time arrests of Iraqis uninvolved in the insurgency, and full on re-invasions of hostile territories. “Transformation”, it’s not.
March 28th, 2006 at 1:06 amI give Rumsfeld a big fat F for FAILURE, so he needs to pack his bags and get the hell out of DC before we tar and feather his lying criminal ass! Go back to New Mexico Rummy > maybe the Taos Pueblo Indians will scalp him?!
March 28th, 2006 at 6:27 amWhen the battle of ideas reaches Z-, they will continue with the cyrillic or the greek alphabet?
March 28th, 2006 at 6:38 amThe problem is, the only idea they have is war.
March 28th, 2006 at 10:54 amthat is mistaking the fact that the ideas were bad in the first place, and not so much the sales pitch. They had nothing but sales pitch, but without electricity the Iraqis can’t watch Fox/CNN/MSNBC to get the propaganda they are being catapulted.
March 28th, 2006 at 2:25 pmTalk about grade inflation!
March 28th, 2006 at 7:21 pmthey deserve to be jailed …for life
http://www.impeachbush.tv/
http://www.impeachbush.org/site/PageServer?pagename=homepage
March 29th, 2006 at 11:40 amI remember that smug sumbitch Rumsfeld standing there behind Bush talking about “fighting the evildoers at home”. They both _knew_ Saddam has nothing at all to do with 9/11 and for the American people it was NEVER about WMDs, they wanted revenge on Osama.
He just stood behind Bush smirking as he thought about the money and status he’d get from this little adventure. Straight faced lying to us time and time again and still we feel we have to support these rat bastards..
I’m not saying impeaching Clinton was wrong but if that was right then this administration deserves much much worse.
March 29th, 2006 at 1:59 pm