McCain's Curious Rumsfeld Blast

Presidential Hopeful (and he needs all the "hope" he can muster since apparently being 72 led being gay by only 2% on the "would you vote for someone who is..." list) John McCain came out and blasted former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfelf saying,

We are paying a very heavy price for the mismanagement - that's the kindest word I can give you - of Donald Rumsfeld, of this war. The price is very, very heavy and I regret it enormously.

And,

I think that Donald Rumsfeld will go down in history as one of the worst secretaries of defense in history,

Hey, I'm with you brother. But I have to point out that that sentiment is a touch different than what he said when Rummy retired.

While Secretary Rumsfeld and I have had our differences, he deserves Americans' respect and gratitude for his many years of public service.

Ok, everyone can change their mind. But here's what's really interesting. If Rummy is the worst ever, and we're paying a "heavy" price for his ineptitude, what about the guy who hired him, stood by him, and refused to fire him? Doesn't that make W culpable? Doesnt' that make W some kind of moron? Surely if Rummy was the worst W should have recognized it and acted. What does it say about W as a leader if he can't even recognize that he has the worst guy ever working for him? Not only that, but kept him on for years, causing all this heavy damage. Shouldn't someone at least ask the question?

So, is this McCain's ham fisted way of addressing Iraq without blaming W? With the majority of Americans against the war all Presidential hopefuls have to come up with some way of handling the bad feelings. Dems get to attack W, but GOPers have to tread lightly, especially during the primaries. W's still very popular with the party hardliners, aka primary voters. But this is so transparent, it makes one wonder.

It makes me wonder if he's trying to hit Rummy now to appease the masses but not offend the base, while setting up the "W should have acted on Rummy sooner" line once McCain wins the primary. This way, he can stay to the right early, then come up with a "soft" criticism of W during the general election where W's overall numbers are much, much...much lower. Its an attempt to win enough of the main-stream vote without sending the base ballistic.

I think its an interesting play. I also think that his hit on Rummy is a direct attack on W, but it's not playing out that way in the media, and hasn't backfired that I can tell.

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