Vote Of No Confidence (Resonance)

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Vote Of No Confidence

Senator McCain attempting to straddle the fence again:

Senator John McCain said Monday that he had "no confidence" in Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, citing the secretary's handling of the war in Iraq and troop levels there that Mr. McCain deems insufficient.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Mr. McCain, an Arizona Republican who is a senior member of the Armed Services Committee, said his comments were not a call for Mr. Rumsfeld's resignation. President Bush "can have the team that he wants around him," the senator said.

I guess this is McCain trying to pretend he's not a party soldier even as he continues the march of a GOP soldier. If he really doesn't have faith in Rumsfeld, why doesn't he call for a change? This isn't the Department of Commerce we're talking about. People are dying because of decisions being made in the Pentagon. That should prompt dissatisfied senators to take a hard stand.

Posted by Brian on December 14, 2004 8:30 AM | Permalink |

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Comments

Barry
December 14, 2004 9:00 AM

21842

Why is this fence straddling? We have no idea what he may be doing behind closed doors, but in public at least it's a step in the right direction.

Fence straddling, to me, implies a vaguely hypocritical position - for instance, expressing lack of confidence in Rumsfield, yet at the same time hosting a fundraiser for him :)

Brian A.
December 14, 2004 1:27 PM

21870

Barry, McCain seems to want to cultivate this image of being an independent, maverick senator. Yet when crunch time came he was slobbering with Bush just like all the rest of them.

Len Cleavelin
December 14, 2004 2:03 PM

21871

Perhaps I'm being biased by my background knowledge, but here's why McCain's behavior in this instance strikes me as odd....

In parliamentary systems, if you call for a "vote of no confidence" in the prime minister, you're calling for the b*stard to be turned out of office, and moving for a vote in parliament to do just that.

Granted, we don't have such a system, but it still strikes me as weird to say that you have no confidence in a cabinet secretary but then not call for his resignation or replacement.

Thomas Nephew
December 16, 2004 3:46 PM

21944

I think "fence straddling" is about right. It's not so much hypocrisy as refusing to make a clear decision about where you want to be. McCain is just tacking to the left after a long bear hug with Bush. It was clear BBH (before bear hug) that Rumsfeld was an arrogant, incompetent ass and Bush approved of him 100%; I'm not going to forget that was OK with McCain then and supposedly isn't now.

-- disappointed ex-McCain admirer