Rumsfeld has a unique way of using uncertainty--real or feigned, I'll never know--to avoid discussing important questions.  For example, check these excerpts from a July, 2006 Woodward-Rumsfeld interview, which the Dept. of Defense saw fit to post on its web site a few days ago.

Iraq has sucked the oxygen out of policies and American policies and what we have on our hands, in the performance of the North Koreans - outrageous as that performance is - we have a major challenge to the peace and stability of the Pacific region.

The infighting is getting pretty intense in Republand, with one story after another indicating that this is (1) not over by a longshot; (2) getting very close to singeing the ample posterior of one Dennis Hastert, and (3) likely to drag a whole bunch of others, whether elected Representatives or their staffs, into the inferno.

Since neither lunacy nor hype know any bounds, it seems that our esteemed congress actually tucked away a provision in a spending bill for $20 million for our ultimate celebration of our successful campaigns in Iraq & Afghanistan.

Dick Cheney may well be the worst politician in recent memory and I'd be willing to go for even money that he's one of the worst persons to serve in the federal government in quite some time.  For example, from the Dept. of Defense web site (emphasis & [commentary] added):

I know that the demoness whose name I hate to speak is sanity-challenged, but come on.

Call me old school, but I am still more concerned with the Republicans molesting Lady Liberty while pretending to be guarding the nation's security, an assignment which they have totally botched. The news about the Foley coverup, while important as yet another example of extreme hypocrisy on the part of the Republican virtues police, should not be allowed to obscure the latest evidence of administration deceit as to its egregious ineptness in protecting the nation.

When Tony Snow was appointed Press Secretary to the President, some people--even some with a brain--tried to paint this as a good thing because Snow was such a "bright guy," and was unlikely to dodge questions the way Scott McClellan did. Well, for a bright guy who won't dodge questions....

Here's a question you probably won't get right unless you live in Vermont:  What is the claim to fame of Christopher Stewart, the grandson of Potter Stewart, the Supreme Court Justice who famously said that he couldn't define obscenity but would know it when he saw it?

If you had any doubts remaining about the state of ethics in public life and society in general, I think the questions have been answered...

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