It's Not Rumsfeld, Stupid!

Demand an Exit Strategy Not a Facelift:

By pointing the finger at Rumsfeld, they deflect blame from Bush's neo-conservative agenda. It is that agenda that drew the nation to Iraq, that has distracted from a smarter struggle against terrorists and terrorism, that has resulted in the erosion of our civil liberties, that has incurred the wrath of the international community.

Identifying Rumsfeld as the problem reinforces the "bad apple frame," which is among the common frames we examine in our new book, Thinking Points. This frame derives from the old saying that one bad apple spoils the barrel. The implication is that if you get rid of that one bad apple, the rest of the apples in the barrel will be fine. Replacing Rumsfeld is hardly a solution to the problem. Every apple remaining in the Bush administration barrel will be no less rotten when he is removed.