Obama: "Rumsfeld (not) in any way out of the mainstream"

bidenista

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Wed Jan-30-08 07:28 PM
Original message

Obama: "Rumsfeld (not) in any way out of the mainstream"

Video being hosted by ABC from 2001 has Obama declaring:

I don't think that soon-to-be Secretary Rumsfeld is in any way out of the mainstream of American political life, and I would argue that the same would be true for the vast majority of the Bush nominees, and I give him credit for that.

Watch Obama praise Rumsfeld here: http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=4216276

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

bidenista

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Wed Jan-30-08 07:30 PM
Response to Original message

1. k

:kick:

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

aquart

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Wed Jan-30-08 07:31 PM
Response to Original message

2. Oh, we all say things we regret. Has he said he regrets saying it?

And thinking it?

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

Cant trust em

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Wed Jan-30-08 07:32 PM
Response to Original message

3. In 2001 he probably wasn't out of the mainstream

when the war began I think things had changed.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

bidenista

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Wed Jan-30-08 07:36 PM
Response to Reply #3

5. uh, no

Edited on Wed Jan-30-08 07:38 PM by bidenista

From Wikipedia:

Rumsfeld resigned from Congress in 1969 � his fourth term � to serve in the Nixon administration as Director of the United States Office of Economic Opportunity, Assistant to the President, and a member of the President's Cabinet (1969�1970); named Counselor to the President in December 1970, Director of the Economic Stabilization Program; and member of the President's Cabinet (1971�1972).

In 1971 President Nixon was recorded saying about Rumsfeld "at least Rummy is tough enough" and "He's a ruthless little bastard. You can be sure of that." In February 1973, Rumsfeld left Washington to serve as U.S. Ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Brussels, Belgium. He served as the United States' Permanent Representative to the North Atlantic Council and the Defense Planning Committee, and the Nuclear Planning Group. In this capacity, he represented the United States in wide-ranging military and diplomatic matters....

From 1977 to 1985 Rumsfeld served as Chief Executive Officer, President, and then Chairman of G.D. Searle & Company, a worldwide pharmaceutical company based in Skokie, Illinois, whose products included, among others, Metamucil, Dramamine, Aspartame, and the oral contraceptive pill Enovid. During his tenure at Searle, Rumsfeld led the company's financial turnaround that in turn earned him awards as the Outstanding Chief Executive Officer in the Pharmaceutical Industry from the Wall Street Transcript (1980) and Financial World (1981). Rumsfeld is believed to have earned around $12 million from Searle's sale to Monsanto....

A pro-Iraq policy was adopted when the Iran-Iraq war began to go strongly in Iran's favor, and it looked as if Iran would overrun Iraq completely. Although the United States was hesitant to support a Soviet client state, the prospect of a greatly expanded Iran outweighed these concerns. When Rumsfeld visited on December 19�December 20, 1983, he and Saddam Hussein had a 90-minute discussion that covered Syria's occupation of Lebanon, preventing Syrian and Iranian expansion, preventing arms sales to Iran by foreign countries, increasing Iraqi oil production via a possible new oil pipeline across Jordan. According to declassified U.S. State Department documents Rumsfeld also informed Tariq Aziz (Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister) that: "Our efforts to assist were inhibited by certain things that made it difficult for us ... citing the use of chemical weapons." Rumsfeld brought many gifts from the Reagan administration. These gifts included pistols, medieval spiked hammers even a pair of golden cowboy spurs. Until the 1991 Gulf war these were all displayed at Saddam's Victory Museum in Baghdad which held all the gifts bestowed on Saddam by world leaders.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Rumsfeld

Nice man.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

Cant trust em

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Wed Jan-30-08 07:56 PM
Response to Reply #5

13. I read the wikipedia site before I posted

He's a republican conservative for sure, but I don't really think that the stuff you highlighted would be considered too crazy by most people. Obviously on DU we have a different interpretation, but I wouldn't consider us to be in the mainstream either.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

in_cog_ni_to

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Wed Jan-30-08 07:34 PM
Response to Original message

4. Rumsfeld isn't out of the mainstream of American political life? Is that so?

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

NYCGirl

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Wed Jan-30-08 07:41 PM
Response to Reply #4

7. Saddam was our ally then, right? NT

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

Levgreee

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Wed Jan-30-08 07:39 PM
Response to Original message

6. He probably meant, not mainstream, as from the necon minority

or does "not mainstream" automatically mean good, also? :eyes:

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

lurky

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Wed Jan-30-08 07:52 PM
Response to Original message

8. That was the conventional wisdom at the time.

Here's a USA Today article from Jan 2, 2001:

No Democrat yet in a Cabinet rife with CEOs Bush nominees are mostly mainstream
...snip...

* Washington experience. Although veterans of the
first Bush presidency are represented, service in Gerald Ford's
administration is the common denominator for the nominees to three
top Cabinet posts. Vice President-elect Cheney, who was Ford's
White House chief of staff, helped enlist Ford veterans Colin
Powell for State, Paul O'Neill for Treasury and Donald Rumsfeld
for Defense. They are seasoned Washington hands who can help Bush
navigate the capital's labyrinthine politics. All three are in
their sixties: Powell is 63, O'Neill 65 and Rumsfeld 68. Bush
is 54.

* Corporate connections. Bush, an executive at oil exploration
companies and lead owner of the Texas Rangers baseball team before
he ran for governor, values the directness and bottom-line efficiency
in the corporate world. So he sought out people with business
experience.

O'Neill led the aluminum company Alcoa, Rumsfeld was at pharmaceutical
manufacturer G.D. Searle & Co., Cheney headed energy-services
company Halliburton, and Evans was chairman and CEO of Tom Brown
Inc., a Texas oil and gas company. Mitch Daniels, Bush's choice
for director of the Office of Management and Budget, was an executive
at pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly & Co.

...snip...

* Ideology. Most of Bush's nominees are considered non-ideological,
mainstream figures who are well known and respected in Washington
and probably headed for quick Senate confirmation. The two exceptions,
former senator John Ashcroft, R-Mo., at Justice and former Colorado
attorney general Gale Norton at Interior, could provide early
tests of Bush's influence on Capitol Hill.

...snip...

Kind of depressing how wrong they were, and it illustrates what a load of crap the "Washington insider" opinions usually are. Looks like Obama was just repeating the same meme as everyone else.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

bidenista

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Wed Jan-30-08 07:53 PM
Response to Reply #8

9. maybe he should have checked wikipedia instead of spouting rw talking points

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

lurky

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Wed Jan-30-08 08:13 PM
Response to Reply #9

14. Wikipedia didn't exist yet. The internet was not what it is today.

And while USA Today is a crappy rag, It's not a RW spew hole like the WSJ editorial page. I think it represents what most people thought and expected at the time. Rumsfeld was approved without any debate. Hillary didn't even bother to show up and vote that day.

Most people on both sides of the aisle (outside of us DU types who knew better) figured that B* was some kind of moderate conservative like Eisenhower or Poppy. I'm disappointed that Obama fell for this spin, but trying to paint this as approval of Rumsfeld's later lunacy is a real stretch, IMO.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

Alexander

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Wed Jan-30-08 07:54 PM
Response to Original message

10. Rumsfeld was confirmed overwhelmingly by the US Senate twice. So Obama's right.

Edited on Wed Jan-30-08 07:54 PM by Alexander

Both times Rumsfeld became the Secretary of Defense, he sailed smoothly through confirmation. His nomination wasn't controversial until much later.

Obama's statement, at the time, was completely accurate. What's the problem? :shrug:

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

WinkyDink

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Wed Jan-30-08 07:54 PM
Response to Original message

11. It's the "I give him credit" part I don't like. SAME type of verbiage Obama used, re: Reagan.

Edited on Wed Jan-30-08 07:54 PM by WinkyDink

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

elizm

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Wed Jan-30-08 07:54 PM
Response to Original message

12. Oh, god, not another one. nt

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

DS1

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Wed Jan-30-08 08:14 PM
Response to Original message

15. YET ANOTHER FUCKING NOOB WITH THIS SHIT

GODDAMN, ARE YOU ALL THIS STUPID, OR DID YOU POOL YOUR BRAINPOWER TOGETHER AND SHOW UP AS ONE IDIOT?

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

DU AdBot (1000+ posts)

Thu May 16th 2024, 04:35 AM
Response to Original message

Advertisements [?]

Top

Powered by DCForum+ Version 1.1 Copyright 1997-2002 DCScripts.com
Software has been extensively modified by the DU administrators

Important Notices: By participating on this discussion board, visitors agree to abide by the rules outlined on our Rules page. Messages posted on the Democratic Underground Discussion Forums are the opinions of the individuals who post them, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Democratic Underground, LLC.