Reaming out Rummy

Yeah, let's just overlook the fact that she's four years late and only got to this point long after the tide of public opinion started turning...

Sorry, she's still a cynical poll-driven hawkish moderate Republican and I still can't stand her. (Her husband also forfeited my remaining goodwill toward him by stumping for Joementum. What a maroon- remember the way Joementums tood by HIM during the impeachment nonsense?)

Right. I can appreciate the way she stood up to Rumsfeld, though, while still feeling no interest in ever voting for her.

If you had to choose between Clinton and McCain, though...?

Clinton. And it would be time to abandon both parties -- I'd be looking for ANY alternative to the Democrats in the next election.

"Actually, showing any spine in the face of the current administration is one of the surest ways to my heart."

What has the world come to when spinelessness is being slighted at Pharyngula!

PedantPoint: I assume you mean "uninterested", not "disinterested". That's my second-most-hated usage error.

(The most hated is when people use "momentarily" for "in just a moment", when in fact it originally meant "for just a moment". When the flight attendant says, "we'll be landing momentarily," I have visions of a fully loaded Boeing 757 doing a touch-and-go....)

It's uninterested, not disinterested, PZ. ;)

I think the challenge (which may be successful) to Lieberman in CT has more than a little to do with this Hillary-Come-Lately stance. She finally got a glimpse of what might happen when constituents call you to account for your performance.

I was more interested in John Abizaid's comments than Clinton's, though. It seems to me that Rummy couldn't possibly have been happy to hear his comments. In the White House, they keep telling us that things are improving day by day; but a decorated general gets up and says:

"The sectarian violence is probably as bad as I've seen it, in Baghdad in particular," Abizaid told the Senate Armed Services Committee in Washington. "If not stopped, Iraq could slide into civil war."

Haven't we all had those days where we walk into our boss's office and say, "Well, you're wrong, and here's the documentation to prove it."?

What Abizaid said affected me far more than a (perhaps intentionally) combative Clinton. He scored a lot of points for daring to "speak truthiness to power." A great moment in American political discourse.

"What Abizaid said affected me far more than a (perhaps intentionally) combative Clinton."

Mike, you nailed it. This is huge - a theater commander just called his civilian boss a liar in public. Of course, since Rumsfeld main qualification is that he is so corporate, calling him a liar is hardly an insult, but on the miltary side it is the equivalent of calling him subhuman.

Does anyone remember how good old crazy David Hackworth used to inveigh against weak-kneed brass who would never tell the uncomfortable truth to the civilian masters? He is looking down and smiling today.
Does anyone

My pet peeve is people who mistake their peeves for anything more solid. In this case, "momentarily" is refused a new meaning, but "disinterested" is forced to take on its newer meaning. In fact, the original sense of disinterested, in the early seventeenth century, was 'not interested', and the original sense of uninterested, also in the seventeenth century, was 'impartial'. In other words, the earliest senses of both words were precisely the opposite of what they are claimed to mean today. So PZ is using 'disinterested' correctly, if original meaning is what matters!

Although, to be honest, I wouldn't have been likely to agree with you anyway. Words change their meaning, and that those who live at the time when the change is happening are a bit confused will not stop that process, nor should it.

(I also am reminded of Lord Vetinari, who got rid of importunate annoyances by declaring he would deal with the problem "momentarily", and, as no one was sure if he meant "briefly" or "soon" and everyone feared saying the wrong thing, the topic was dropped.)

The most hated is when people use "momentarily" for "in just a moment", when in fact it originally meant "for just a moment". When the flight attendant says, "we'll be landing momentarily," I have visions of a fully loaded Boeing 757 doing a touch-and-go....

Mine is when people say "untracked" when they really mean "on track."

This is a problem particularly with sports announcers, when pointing out that a team is ramping up its offensive performance.

People who refer to the carrying out of orientation at "orientating"

Clinton gets next to no credit for this one right now. It doesn't take any bravery to kick Rummy when he's down. However, I'm willing to give her retroactive credit if she actually stands up in a timely fashion the next time it's called for...(which is likely to be on a weekly basis)

People who hyper-correct and use the construction "so-and-so and I" (or worse, "so-and-so and myself") when it is totally unwarranted

Mine is "At the end of the day...", as in, "At the end of the day, we'll see just how serious Clinton is here."

Mine is when people say "untracked" when they really mean "on track."

My pet peeve is when my high school students say "skrate" when they mean "straight". ARGH! Damn street culture!

Don't leave out Peter Pace, Chairman of the JCS. He commented--and I'm paraphrasing here--that things will only get better when the Sunnis and Shias learn to love their children more than they hate each other. That surely implies that things aren't anything like as rosy as Rummy and Bush would have us believe.

Sorry, she's still a cynical poll-driven hawkish moderate Republican and I still can't stand her.

YES. That is precisely why I hate Hilary Clinton. It's why I couldn't stand John Kerry and voted None of the Above in 2004, as well. Sorry, Democrats, I'll start voting for you when you start fielding actual liberals again.

Bill himself was a pretty decent president, though. Mostly for all the ways he's not like his wife.

My pet peeve is when my high school students say "skrate" when they mean "straight". ARGH! Damn street culture!

Yeah, and like when they say "skeet!" when they really mean... uh... what the hell do they mean? Damn street culture! Also - Turn down that damn ruckus!

What Abizaid said affected me far more than a (perhaps intentionally) combative Clinton. He scored a lot of points for daring to "speak truthiness to power."

My peeve is when a word's not even a year old yet, and already people are misusing it. :-P

Joshua, Bill Clinton was as liberal as his wife and Lieberman are. The main difference is that he's also electable, whereas his wife and Lieberman can only win in states where the real election is the Democratic primary. His foreign policy featured the same bomb-'em strategy of Bush, only he preferred destroying Iraq without embroiling the US military in a prolonged conflict. His domestic policy featured a bad health care proposal, lack of any concern for the real problems of American education, lackluster environmental protections, and, of course, welfare reform.

I applaud Hillary for asking the question that I would have liked to ask Rummy myself. Better late than never. I do hope she runs in '08 and wins the Presidency as the FIRST female in the Oval Office. We NEED the sensibility and sensitiveness of a female leader. It is about time to be a TRUE free America offering equal opportunity for all including Women, Gays, African Americans, etc;