I'm sitting here stunned. I've had an unprecedented experience. Donald Rumsfeld sat for an extended interview with Jim Lehrer of the PBS Newshour tonight. It's the first time I've actually enjoyed seeing Rummy on TV.
Because Lehrer took him apart. Chewed him up and spit him out. Rummy resorted to the same posturing that turns on the Rush Limbaugh dittohead crowd when he sneers and swaggers in front of the Pentagon press corps, who normally cower like children afraid to upset daddy when he's come home drunk.
Rummy blustered and bullied and sneered. He tossed questions back in Lehrer's face. He tried to change the subject. He made arguments a 12-year-old could see through. He lived up to Doonesbury's lampooning of him by asking his own questions and then answering them. (He got on a manic roll on that toward the end.) He smiled his creepy death's-head smile.
Lehrer maintained a polite, professional demeanor. But he asked tough questions. He asked follow-up questions. He asked for clarifications when Rummy contradicted himself. He asked him for details on silly claims. In other words, he acted like normal journalists did not so very long ago. The fact that it was a novel event shows how craven the mainstream press has become.
At one point while Lehrer is asking a pointed question, Rummy gets an expression on his face like he's just been punched in the stomach. Having to answer real questions from a real reporter is clearly an unfamiliar experience for Deputy Rummy.
The video is a must-see (search for Rumsfeld). Because this is one you can't appreciate by just reading the transcript. At least listen to the audio. When you hear the entire exchange, it's hard to miss what a blustering, dissembling, arrogant twit Rummy really is. Don't miss the part where Rummy approvingly quotes someone saying the 9/11 attacks were "a blessing in disguise."
I respected Jim Lehrer before. Now I'm ready to nominate him for the Andrew Jackson Award for Taking on Scoundrels. Speaking of which, I'd love to see Rummy go head-to-head in an argument with Old Hickory. He would reduce Rummy to tears in about 10 minutes time.
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