02 February 2011

I can't believe he went there.
Posted by Ellen at 1:48 PM
Labels: ,

4 comments:

Wade Garrett said...

I'm definitely in the minority here, but I actually thought that his speech about known unknowns and unknown unknowns made an important point; the sort of subtle, awkward-sounding point for which, say, Al Gore was always made fun of for making by right-wing talk show hosts.

Which is not to say that it didn't sound ridiculous, or that Rumsfeld wasn't a jerk.

9:30 PM
Ellen said...

I recognize the point he was trying to make, I just can't believe he would use that much-mocked turn of phrase to sum up his entire career. He might as well be throwing up his hands and saying "Wellllll don't look at me, I was just the Secretary of Defense." I guess he was never going to write about his own responsibility anyway.

I'd prefer something titularly closer to the truth, like LIES, DAMNED LIES AND STATISTICS. Or I GOT PAID A LOT TO DO THIS. Or THANK FUCK THAT'S OVER.

11:39 PM
Wade Garrett said...

If he was trying to be self-effacing, then I haven't given him enough credit all of these years. My guess is that its just the phrase that people most associate with him, and as sort of a lame pun it suggests that there's a reason to buy the book and read what's inside. Its too bad they didn't come up with something more clever, but at least its an improvement over "Decision Points."

8:16 AM
Ellen said...

Self-effacing? Well... from today's Daily Beast:

"In Known and Unknown, which was purchased by a reporter at a Washington bookstore in advance of its official release, Rumsfeld offers a muscular, uncompromising defense of his tenure, the military operations he helped direct in Afghanistan and Iraq and the president he served. He settles his share of scores, most notably with Colin Powell, Condi Rice, Dick Armitage and the media. While he acknowledges some missteps along the way, Rumsfeld insists -- as does George W. Bush -- that even if he had known in 2003 that Saddam did not possess weapons of mass destruction, the former defense secretary would still have favored going to war."

[[SAD TROMBONE]]

9:32 AM

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)