Day: December 18, 2004

Cripes, I’m so sick of this.

Nearing the top spot on my short list of public people who need to go is Julian Bond.

NAACP Chairman Julian Bond, speaking Friday, accused the Bush administration and the Republican Party of catering to “right wing” extremists and trying to reverse civil rights gains.

Bond said the civil rights movement is facing some of its most significant challenges ever as affirmative action is under attack and judges raise questions on how laws should be enforced. He said civil rights activists need to be more vigilant.

Unfortunately, there are only two people in the world that can push Bond into retirement. The Reverend Jesse Jackson, and Bill Cosby. Jackson, at least for the time being, will not ask Bond to leave. Cosby however, has recently been more public with his rant, so there are possibilities there. We shall see. One thing is for sure, Bond’s audiences aren’t growing any larger.

The speech drew cheers from the 120 people at Witherspoon Student Center.

And that included the crickets.

Now that a number of Republicans and a few Conservatives in the media have publicly called for Rumsfeld to step down, the Democrats apparently feel it is safe to jump on the dog pile.

Democrats on Saturday said U.S. soldiers in Iraq lacked adequate body armor and plated vehicles because of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s flawed leadership.

Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, in the Democrats’ weekly radio address, blasted the Pentagon under Rumsfeld for “a litany of serious miscalculations” including underestimating the Iraqis resistance and failing to give troops enough protective equipment even though Congress gave it all the money it requested.

“The Pentagon says the lack of protective equipment is a matter of ‘logistics.’ No it’s not. It’s a matter of leadership,” Durbin said.

“Those responsible for planning this war were not prepared for the reality on the ground, and many of our soldiers have paid the price,” he said, citing nearly 1,300 U.S. service members who have died in Iraq and more than 10,000 injured.

This is complaining we’ve heard from the Liberals before, but, it’s beginning to gain traction.

Bush has given Rumsfeld his confidence. With the Iraqi election coming up on January 30, why in the world would he ask for Rumsfelds resignation now? The more likely scenario will be for Bush to keep things in place until after the election. Then, I believe he’ll find an opportunity to ask Rumsfeld to leave.

When the movie “The Passion of the Christ” came out earlier this year, there was a war of words  between producer/director/movie star Mel Gibson and New York Times columnist Frank Rich. After the hype died down, both moved on. Well, now that everyone in the MSM is putting together their year end stories, you’d think that Rich would have a lot of material to choose from. Apparently, not. Frank uses his media real estate to take one more shot at “The Passion”.

Mel?