The stories you want. The opinions that matter.
No, thanks
Tag: don rumsfeld
Late Night Roundup: Don Rumsfeld’s Intelligence

Late Night Roundup: Don Rumsfeld’s Intelligence

Stephen Colbert welcomed Donald Rumsfeld to the show, to promote his new computer game project “Churchill Solitaire” — a version of solitaire played by Sir Winston himself — for which proceeds will go to help military families.

And while Stephen had Rumsfeld there, he had to ask about all those intelligence errors that led to the Iraq War. Rumsfeld’s answer included this little gem about the gathering of intelligence: “It’s never certain — if it were a fact, it wouldn’t be called ‘intelligence.'”

Trevor Noah looked at the latest desperate measures some Republican candidates are taking: Carly Fiorina ambushing a class of preschoolers for an anti-abortion campaign event — and Jeb Bush calling up his mom for help.

Larry Wilmore welcomed Rand Paul onto the show, to talk about the state of the GOP race. Rand at first seemed to compare Donald Trump to a speck of dirt that gets stuck in someone’s eye — but then he got to the punchline: “Donald Trump is a delusional narcissist and an orange-faced windbag — a speck of dirt is way more qualified to be president.”

Conan O’Brien entertained the troops at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar:

Rumsfeld: George H.W. Bush’s Slam Of Me Isn’t ‘Complimentary Of His Son’

Rumsfeld: George H.W. Bush’s Slam Of Me Isn’t ‘Complimentary Of His Son’

Former Secretary of Defense Don Rumsfeld has responded to the harsh criticisms levied against him by former President George H.W. Bush. Because if Rumsfeld was so bad, what does that say about the president he served, George W. Bush?

Rumsfeld appeared Monday morning on the Today show, where Matt Lauer read back the quotes that the elder Bush made about him in the recent authorized biography, Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush, by Jon Meacham. The key exchange comes at the 3:20 mark below:

“I think he served the President (George W. Bush) badly,” Bush 41 had told Meacham. “I don’t like what he did, and I think it hurt the President having his iron-ass view of everything. I’ve never been that close to him anyway. There’s a lack of humility, a lack of seeing what the other guy thinks. He’s more kick ass and take names, take numbers. I think he paid a price for that.”

“Were you surprised by those comments?” Matt Lauer asked.

Rumsfeld brushed off the criticism: “No, we were never close. He was kind of ‘to the manner born,’ and I wasn’t. He — as I say, we were never close, so I guess it didn’t surprise me.”

And then the former secretary of defense went even further — by pointing out the ramifications that the father Bush’s comments had for both of his sons.

“I was amazed that he said what he said, when he said it — because I didn’t think it was very complimentary of his son, George W. Bush. And I didn’t think it was very helpful to his other son, who was running for president. So I thought it was kind of a strange thing for him to be doing.”

Former President George H.W. Bush Raps Cheney, Rumsfeld In Biography: Fox News

Former President George H.W. Bush Raps Cheney, Rumsfeld In Biography: Fox News

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — Former President George H.W. Bush takes some unexpected swipes at Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, key members of his son’s administration, over their reaction to the Sept. 11 attacks, in a new biography of the 41st president, Fox News reported on Wednesday.

In Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey Of George Herbert Walker Bush, author Jon Meacham quotes Bush as saying that Cheney and Rumsfeld were too hawkish and that their harsh stance damaged the reputation of the United States, the cable news network said.

Speaking of Cheney, who was vice president under President George W. Bush, the senior Bush said: “I don’t know, he just became very hard-line and very different from the Dick Cheney I knew and worked with,” according to the report.

Cheney served as defense secretary during George H.W. Bush’s 1989-1993 presidency.

“The reaction (to Sept. 11), what to do about the Middle East. Just iron-ass. His seeming knuckling under to the real hard-charging guys who want to fight about everything, use force to get our way in the Middle East,” Bush told Meacham in the book to be published next Tuesday.

Bush believes Cheney acted too independently of his son by creating a national security team in his own office, and may have been influenced to become more conservative by his wife and daughter, Lynne and Liz Cheney, the report cites the biography as saying.

On Rumsfeld, secretary of defense for most of the two terms served by his son, Bush is even more critical. He is quoted as saying: “I don’t like what he did, and I think it hurt the President,” referring to his son.

“I’ve never been that close to him anyway. There’s a lack of humility, a lack of seeing what the other guy thinks. He’s more kick ass and take names, take numbers. I think he paid a price for that. Rumsfeld was an arrogant fellow,” he was quoted as saying in the biography.

Fox News quoted Cheney as denying his family had influenced his views, saying: “It’s his view, perhaps, of what happened, but my family was not conspiring to somehow turn me into a tougher, more hardnosed individual. I got there all by myself.”

Bush’s spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment.

Rumsfeld declined to comment on the book, Fox News said.

(Reporting by Eric Walsh; Editing by Peter Cooney)

Photo: Former U.S. President George H.W. Bush looks into the audience during the Medal of Freedom ceremony at the White House in Washington February 15, 2011. REUTERS/Larry Downing

Late Night Roundup: ‘The Rummy Returns’

Late Night Roundup: ‘The Rummy Returns’

Jon Stewart brutally took apart Don Rumsfeld’s new, retroactive declarations of skepticism about the Iraq War. Jon’s message: Ultimately, trying to stop these people from doomed foreign policy adventures, or to find all the contradictions in their logic and basic understanding of history, is probably futile. But we must never stop trying, anyway — if only in the hope that it will make them stop and think for just one second.

Larry Wilmore sat down with Democratic presidential candidate Lincoln Chafee — over a nice dinner of soul food. And they worked on a new slogan for him: “Big-Ass Lincoln Chafee. I Changed Parties. I’m Changing The Rules.”