maddowblog | If there's anyone in America who should go enjoy a little quiet time
right about now, it's failed former Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld.
Nevertheless, he just keeps talking, appearing this morning on Fox News (thanks to my colleague Tricia McKinney for the heads-up).
...Rumsfeld, who earned public scorn for his leadership of the Pentagon during the Iraq War, said Obama didn't need to ask Congress for authorization and may have made a mistake in doing so.
"Now, did he need to go to Congress? No. Presidents as commander in chief have authority, but they have to behave like a commander in chief."
He referred to Obama as "the so-called commander in chief," and questioned whether a strike on Syria would be effective given the way Obama has handled it.
Rumsfeld, who seemed generally supportive of
intervention in Syria, added that President Obama "doesn't have the kind
of support that President Bush had in respect to his military actions."
Yep, he really said that.
Part
of me continues to wonder why Rumsfeld is still allowed to speak in
polite company. Lance Armstrong isn't asked for his opinions about
athletes and performance-enhancing drugs; Miley Cyrus isn't sought out
for analysis on public modesty; so why should anyone take seriously what
Donald Rumsfeld has to say foreign policy and the use of military force
abroad?
And yet ol' Rummy just can't seem to help himself -- he's talking about the incomplete justifications for military intervention; he casually attacks the president's patriotism; and he routinely makes incoherent, self-defeating observations about national security.
Don't go away mad, Rumsfeld. Just go away.
