Pierce-ing Posts (042806) — Special DeWine Rumsfeld Back-Stab Reax Edition

Item:

DeWine criticizes Rumsfeld in Interview with Far-Left online magazine Salon

Main quote:

But the sky rockets went off as soon as the topic turned to embattled Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

“Rumsfeld has made some very serious mistakes,” DeWine declared, repeating his verdict for emphasis. “Very serious mistakes. I think history will judge him very harshly.” Just to make sure that I was really hearing one of the harshest attacks yet on Rumsfeld by a Republican senator, I asked, “Which mistakes?” DeWine, who has never repented his 2002 vote for the Iraq war, gave me a what-planet-are-you-on look before responding, “Clearly not enough troops going in [to Iraq]. That was the biggest mistake. And a lot of mistakes would be covered under that.”

Bill Pierce Reax — DeWine’s Public Attack of Rumsfeld Was Wrong!

Blogger and Other Reax (will be updated throughout the evening):

• Porkopolis (”Et Tu, DeWine”) — “Political expediency is too kind a characterization for the ingratitude DeWine shows to a Secretary of Defense that is simultaneously prosecuting three wars (worldwide terrorism, Afghanistan and Iraq), with historically low casualties, and transforming the military bureaucracy at the same time. ….. To DeWine, all of Washington’s a stage and he but an miscasted actor attempting to play the role of a conservative. On May 2nd, Ohio Republicans can tell DeWine to exit stage left and let Bill Pierce represent us/U.S. in the Senate. I love that “exit stage left” part.
• Matt at WoMD rips Hugh Hewitt for not pulling the plug on DeWine after the umpteenth betrayal, and telling us we should still “rally behind him — “What conservative credentials??? I’ll rally behind DeWine when DeWine represents our values… Chances of that happening? Well, let’s put it this way, I’m not holding my breath.” How can you “Paint the Map Red” when your guy shows up with only blue paint?
• NixGuy — “Mike DeWine has never been in military service, and I’m really curious as to why he thinks his opinion is better than Donald Rumsfeld. I’m also curious as to why he’s swallowing Dem talking points. Especially as it appears obvious that we had exactly as many troops needed to throw Saddam out of power militarily. We are now fighting guerillas. Anyone with just a faintest inkling of how things went in Vietnam came away with this lesson: Number of troops is not the most important factor when fighting a Guerilla war. But apparently DeWine didn’t even get that much out of Vietnam history.”
• Large Bill (from a comment at a previous BizzyBlog post) — “Leading up to hostilities and after shock and awe, personally I was concerned that we had way too many troops in harms way. What DeWine conveniently forgets is we (including him) believed Saddam had WMD. Is he saying he wanted the administration to put more troops in jeopardy than necessary? Fools like DeWine fail to realize we have had an extremely low casualty rate by any historical comparison precisely because we did not put extra targets in country. So, basically, DeWine is criticizing Secretary Rumsfeld for a low body count. What a clown. He needs come on home – for good.”
• Chuckoblog — “To paraphrase, ‘I came here to make blanket statements about the unpopular (according to left wing media polls) Secretary of Defense. Please don’t ask me to be specific, or it may alienate my conservative base that is mostly unaware of my horrible tax and spend record as a US Senator.’” Too late Mike. Consider us alienated.
• This ought to disabuse DeWine that he’s scoring any points with libs — “When your ship is sinking, blame somebody, anybody.”
• Ethical Wasteland — “The Republicans need to get their (act) together… they’re starting to bicker and fracture like Democrats.”
• Crain’s Cleveland Business — “Cross Rummy off DeWine’s Christmas card list”
• Return of the Conservatives — “Why exactly is DeWhiner running as a Republican? If he was to be honest with his constituents he would change his party affiliation and run as a democRAT which he has become.”
• PunditReview.com — “As election day approaches, two-term Republican Senator Mike DeWine is reaching out to…the liberal media by joining the chorus of Rumsfeld critics. Nice approach Senator. This is sure to shore up your base.”
• Boring Made Dull says DeWine has “New York Times Syndrome”– “Let’s see— soft on Judges, Soft on the 2nd amendment, now soft on the war against terror, no drilling in ANWR, but some show trials on energy prices. The reasons to vote for DeWine are rapidly shrinking. When your only slogan left is “I’m not as liberal as my opponent!” That’s not a rousing call to arms. Given the choice, most voters leaning left will prefer the real Democrat to the faux one. And if those are the choices, many conservatives may stay home. Oh, and memo to Sen. DeWine: The puff pieces won’t be rolling out from the MSM in September and October. They’re pretty fickle. Well, not fickle, since they will rally to the left every time.”

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NOTE: I have endorsed Bill Pierce for Senate, and have provided nominal financial support for his campaign. BizzyBlog is a member of Blogs for Pierce.