Clinton's Military Triumphs, Despite Rumsfeld's Hack Job

Wolfowitz tells Franken, "Fuck you."

Al Franken let fly with a great anecdote today. He was at an event where Dubya was appearing, and when the pResident came out, he stood along with everyone else and applauded vigorously.

Karl Rove, who was seated close by, commented "look, Franken is applauding the President!" Al said yes, well, he is the President, he is our President. Later, Al made a comment to Rove about how well "the Clinton military" had done in Iraq. Remember that a big issue in the 2000 election was how the Republicans were claiming that the Clinton administration had neglected the military and allowed it to wither. Rove's response was, "it is the U.S. military."

Paul Wolfowitz had a better response to the same comment. Franken made the same statement, and Wolfowitz paused a moment, then said "Fuck you." Half kidding, but he meant it.

Now, I've been dealing with Rumsfeld's attempts to gut the military since Bush was elected. Without getting into details, I can say that I'm something of an insider here. This arm-chair general - who has never so much as gone to boot camp - is killing programs and cutting others before they get off the ground, programs that General Shinseki and others see as vital.

On a totally different subject, I just heard (3 pm, Saturday 03 May 2003) that "The Old Man of the Mountain" has fallen off. This is (was) a geological feature on a mountainside in New Hampshire, so well known that it appeared on the New Hampshire state quarter. Sigh.