Mound City

I am going to completely steal a post from Laura Rozen over at War & Piece. I don't like to do that, but she sums this up so well, I can't do any better.

Rumsfeld walked out yesterday when he got tired of briefing the House Armed Services Committee briefing. Just packed his brief case...and walked out...while they were still questioning him. Here's Dana Milbank:

Two dozen members of the House Armed Services Committee had not yet had their turn to question Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld at yesterday's hearings when he decided he had had enough.

At 12:54, he announced that at 1 p.m. he would be taking a break and then going to another hearing in the Senate. "We're going to have to get out and get lunch and get over there," he said. When the questioning continued for four more minutes, Rumsfeld picked up his briefcase and began to pack up his papers.

The chairman, Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), apologized to his colleagues for a rather "unusual" situation.

With the Bush administration asking Congress this month to write checks for half a trillion dollars for the Pentagon, you might think the secretary of defense would set an accommodating posture on Capitol Hill.
What a farce of Congressional oversight we have any more. It doesn't get more pro forma than this. Talk about the Putinization of America.

Posted by Laura at 01:05 PM

Not many people can act so contemptuously of Congress and get away with it. Rumsfeld, however, apparently is one of those few. It's too bad our Representatives are incapable of showing any spine towards this administration.

Perhaps that is too harsh, maybe they have just given up since it appears the administration has no interest in respecting the people's elected representatives. They certainly have expressed little respect or trust in the people. It's hard to say you trust the voter when you enlist propaganda.