Rumor: Bush to announce Rumsfeld’s resignation? Update: AP — RUMSFELD QUITS, to be replaced by Robert Gates   
Allahpundit

A friend just phoned to say that Rush Limbaugh was talking about this at the beginning of today’s show. Supposedly there are “whispers” that today’s press conference isn’t going to be the standard “we look forward to working with the opposition” shinola that we’re expecting.

Texas Rainmaker is hearing there’ll be a “significant announcement” too.

Video of the press conference will be posted here.

The prospect of Bush sending Rumsfeld packing the morning after a hugely disspiriting loss, while Pelosi’s still giving press conferences, is excruciatingly depressing and ominous. Can him if you want, but for god’s sake, wait a week. This would be like presenting the left with his head on a platter.

If it does happen, who replaces him? Joementum?

Update: The rumors are true. Fox says the AP is reporting that Rumsfeld is “stepping down.”

Update: News moves quickly.

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Rumsfeld Quits, Pelosi May Let Cheney, Laura Stay

(2006-11-08) -- President George Bush today, in an effort to find common ground with presumptive House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-CA, accepted the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, but said he has no immediate plans to replace either Vice President Dick Cheney or First Lady Laura Bush. ...

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I understand the President has also just announced that he's renaming the Department of Defense, which will heretofore be known as the Department of Appeasement, and is replacing the Joint Chiefs with borrowed French officers.

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You know what I just realized? The elections are over. There's no longer any reason to hold back on calling George Bush a dumb ass when he acts like one. The Dhimms will kerry things up bad enough in the next two years to make sure the Republicans retake Congress and keep the White House anyway, so what's to lose?

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Rumsfeld is out
Michelle Malkin

He served this country honorably.

Here's all the latest news. I'm traveling today and will post more soon.

A quick word for Bush critics who have lambasted him as a stubborn cowboy who doesn't respond: Well, there goes that myth, too. ...

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See also Video: Bush announces Rumsfeld’s resignation; Update: Bolton next to go?, which I should have added to this post. I'd already sent a trackback before I realized my error.

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RUMINT - Rumsfeld to Step Down
Blackfive

Hearing lots of chatter on the dark net that Secretary Rumsfeld is going to announce his retirement.

Update:  It's Official.

Donald Rumsfeld Resigning as Defense Secretary

Wednesday, November  08, 2006

WASHINGTON — Donald H. Rumsfeld is stepping down as defense secretary and former CIA Director Robert Gates will be nominated to take his place.
<...>
"Now after a series of thoughtful conversations, Secretary Rumsfeld and I agreed that the time had come for new leadership at the Pentagon," Bush said in an East Room press conference scheduled Tuesday night after election returns showed an incoming Democratic House majority.
<...>
Bush said Gates brings a long history of organization and national security credentials. ...

This is what Uncle Jimbo wrote about throwing Donald Rumsfeld a kick-ass retirement party:

We have actively been at war for over 5 years now, and Donald Rumsfeld has been Secretary of Defense for that entire time. That’s longer than WWII in one of the most difficult jobs imaginable. Sec. Rumsfeld doesn’t even have a desk; he stands all day while working. Mr. Rumsfeld thank you for the Herculean efforts you and your staff and all the folks at the Pentagon, civilian and military, have made, but sir it’s time to take a seat.

There is much to be said for continuity in offices of high import, but also for a change that can reinvigorate. When faced with a monumental challenge it is easy to focus like a laser on it, and that can lead to failure to see alternatives to your way. I think Sec. Rumsfeld has been unfairly painted as too set in his ways or convinced he is correct. In a military unit it is vital that a consistent and coherent set of guidance comes down the chain of command. There should be no doubt at any level what the commander’s intent is, this is one of Sec. Rumsfeld’s strengths. There also needs to be a feeling that before a final decision is made the input of the many talented professionals involved get to air their opinions and lay out all the options detailing strengths and weaknesses of each, this is one of Sec. Rumsfeld’s weaknesses. Fair or not, he is perceived as as not taking the advice of all of those in the Pentagon and also of dominating inter-agency battles over policy.

Is Gates the new voice that we need?

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Bush is an idiot
Uncle Jimbo

I have spent plenty of time and effort defending the policies of the Bush administration, but I am done. I called for Rummy's retirement here, not for failure but because 6 years as a wartime Sec Def was plenty. Now we get this, the moonbats are right, Bush is an idiot.

WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld stepped down as defense secretary on Wednesday, one day after midterm elections in which opposition to the war in Iraq contributed to heavy Republican losses.

During a mid-term election that turned into a referendum on W's leadership overall, and in Iraq especially, he stands tall and says Rumsfeld will stay out the rest of his presidency. Knowing full well that this will alienate some of the moderate Dems and Repubs who support the war on terror, but wonder about Rumsfeld's prosecution of it. So these folks decide enough is enough and take their frustration to the only place they can voice it, voting the bums who support Bush out and a Dem majority in. Now both Houses of Congress will be run by a party that burns with hate from having 2 elections stolen.

Oh, and can we please have a big bowl of STFU about Diebold machines and stolen elections.

Having profoundly screwed the pooch and ensured we will have to fight harder here than Baghdad to win the freakin' war, he surrenders to his new Democrat overlords and throws them Rummy's carcass to gnaw on. IDIOT!

If this was a possibility then it should have happened before the election and would probably have shown the folks who voted against staying the course that he was making important changes. Instead he ensures they believe the prevailing story that W and Rummy are not listening and have no plan and it cost dearly.

F*** the political implications for the Republicans, this screws our troops. ...

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Video: Rumsfeld’s farewell
Allahpundit

“WHY IN GOD’S NAME DIDN’T YOU DO IT BEFORE THE ELECTION!”

Oh well. If Arabs were happy this morning, think how excited they’ll be tonight. Should be a humdinger of a confirmation hearing, too.

[video link]

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Video: Mother Sheehan gets the news about Rumsfeld

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Why in God's Name Didn't You Do It Before The Election!
Rick Moran

Was it out and out hubris that kept the President from firing Rumsfeld before the election? Wouldn’t firing him have signaled a “change in course” and knocked the chocks from underneath the Democratic critique of “stay the course?” Did the President’s stubbornness and overweening pride prevent him from appearing to give in to his political opponents before an election?

I may be very tired and not reading this correctly but what this says to me is that Bush cared more about his personal standing than he did the party. The fact that he said a week ago that Rumsfeld would be his Secretary of Defense till the end of his term probably played a role in waiting until after the election. But firing Rumsfeld now rather than last week (or last month for that matter) just doesn’t make any sense to me. ...

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I Question The Timing, And The Sanity
Ed Morrissey

One day after voters spanked Republicans in the midterm elections, George Bush turned a two-year commitment to Donald Rumsfeld into a "heckuva job, Rummy," before the last ballots have even been counted. Rumsfeld resigned his post as Secretary of Defense after almost six years on the job, and Bush will nominate Robert Gates to replace him:

[...]

I have no illusions about the indispensability of any one man in the American effort for national security. Rumsfeld has done tremendous work at the Pentagon during his tenure, which will be the longest period for any SecDef by the time he actually steps down. He has also served as a lightning rod for criticism on the war in Iraq, which comes with the job. Cabinet positions are political appointments, and political appointments get changed when the politics demand it, and SecDef is no exception to that reality. I argued before that I'd rather see Rumsfeld resign than pull out of Iraq.

However, the timing of this move seems ludicrous. Just two weeks ago, Bush riled up the electorate by pledging unwavering support for Rumsfeld for the next two years. I'm sure that a number of Republican politicians who find themselves out of a job wonder why this decision didn't get made two months ago, and why Bush had to issue that unhelpful statement in the midst of the midterm struggles. Obviously, Bush can live without Rumsfeld, and obviously the White House now understands the drag that Rumsfeld had on the GOP. Otherwise, he wouldn't be out today. Why didn't anyone at the White House figure this out two or three months ago, when the transition to Gates could have demonstrated a little more flexibility on Iraq? ...

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Why Bush Waited Till Now For Rumsfeld to Go
Daniel Freedman

One reader queried why President Bush waited till now to announce Rumsfeld stepping down. If he stepped down before the election would the House and/or Senate have been saved?

Our view is that it would have just been more damaging. ...