Murtha: "Rumsfeld, Cheney should resign"

“On Sunday’s edition of Meet the Press with Tim Russert, Congressman John Murtha (D-PA) said that Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld should resign for misdecisions in the war in Iraq, RAW STORY has found.

Crooks and Liars has a video excerpt from the interview at this link.” –RAW STORY.
Excerpts from transcript:

“MR. RUSSERT: The president picks up the phone and calls you up, and says “Jack, come on down. You voted for this war, you now think it was a mistake, but we’re in a fix. And if I get out right away, we could leave behind a civil war, we could leave behind a haven for terrorism. Tell me specifically Mr. Murtha, what should I do today?”

REP. MURTHA: Here, here’s what you should do, Mr. President. First of all, you should fire all the people who are responsible for that, which gives you international credibility.

MR. RUSSERT: Including his secretary of defense?

REP. MURTHA: Well, he, he should—well, let’s say he should offer his resignation, because he certainly…

MR. RUSSERT: And it’s sure to be accepted?

REP. MURTHA: I would accept it, that’s exactly right.

MR. RUSSERT: What about the vice president?

REP. MURTHA: Well, you can’t fire the vice president, so I think he’ll, he’ll have to handle this himself.

MR. RUSSERT: Should he offer his resignation?

REP. MURTHA: Yeah. Well, certainly the vice president has been the primary force in running, running this war, and many of the mischaracterizations have come about. You and I talked before the show about some of the things he said on your show, right before the war started. None of them turned out to be true. This is why the American public is so upset.

OK, I say fire some people, that’s the first thing.

MR. RUSSERT: Who should he fire?

REP. MURTHA: Well, he, he, he’s got to make that decision himself. Anybody that’s been responsible, first of all, for the intelligence-gathering; second of all, for the characterization; and third of all, for the maintaining and running the war. For instance, from the national security office down to the secretary of defense’s office. I mean he’s got to make that decision.”

The full transcript can be read at this link.

9 Comments

Street Kid on March 20, 2006 at 12:01 am

I saw this earlier and was wondering what I missed!

“I don’t think we can pay any attention to that kind of thing,” Cheney said on CBS “Face the Nation.” “The president has got a job to do. … He ignores the background noise that’s out there in the polls that are taken on a daily basis.”

Bush’s job approval in March was at 37 percent, which tied for his lowest rating in the AP-Ipsos poll. Senior Republicans and others have said the Bush team may need an infusion of fresh blood and ideas.

Cheney, in a rare Sunday morning television interview, told CBS that he heard similar grumbling 30 years ago when he was chief of staff for President Ford.

“Administrations go through peaks and valleys,” he said. “When you’re down in the polls you’re going to take shots that you don’t deserve, and when you’re up in the polls you’re probably going to get praise you don’t deserve.”

Asked if he and Bush had a “good cop, bad cop” partnership in which Cheney took the heat for controversial policies, the vice president said: “It may look that way. It’s not conscious.”

Added Cheney, who has said he will not seek the presidency: “My job is to do what I can to support him and to support the administration. My advice to him is untainted by any concern I might have on how the folks in Iowa look at me in connection with the 2008 Iowa caucuses.”

Cheney chuckled when asked if he himself had ever considered resigning amid low poll numbers and suggestions by commentators that he was a liability for the administration.

“It’s been a highlight of my career to be a part of this administration,” he said. “I’ve now been elected to a second term, and I’ll serve out my term.”

To political strategists who say that he should step aside with a year or so remaining in his term to give someone a jump on gaining the Republican nomination for president, Cheney said such a move wouldn’t make sense to him. “Nobody has suggested it to me,” he said.

Thanks howie!!

wilderness wench on March 20, 2006 at 1:18 am

Just an aside, but Cheney’s a fine one for talking about ‘taking shots that you don’t deserve’.

& by the way, dirtbag, no one elected you.
Except you.

Anything else coming out of Cheney’s mouth is utterly beneath consideration. We, the informed citizens of these United States, know what these people are doing, even if they don’t appear to.

Any reference by Ol’ Scattershot (or any other ‘administration’ figure) to any form or means of democratic governance is just tattered window-dressing.

Pardon my rant. I just can’t stomach this man.

Quite frankly, this very basic dishonesty, in all its cynical arrogance, has become a enormous burden to us all & I, quite personally, find it a big pain in the ass.
- Street Kid on March 20, 2006 at 1:24 am
  
  No apology necessary for the rant–I can’t stand him either. I caught this one earier today and thought WTF? Now I see!
  - wilderness wench on March 20, 2006 at 1:26 am
    
    Right; it’s reactive. (Dare we say defensive?)

Arthur Gilroy on March 20, 2006 at 1:53 am

Bush?

Fire Cheney?

Rumsfeld?

How do you fire your boss and his wartime consigliere?

Get real.

howieinseattle on March 20, 2006 at 8:09 am

The audience for Murtha’s comment is not limited to The Chimp, Arthur.
- Arthur Gilroy on March 20, 2006 at 1:32 pm
  
  I know that.
  
  lety me be clearer.
  
  Why do ‘we”…as if Murtha and I wouldn’t be mortal enemies the moment we walked into the same room…why do “we” keep on talking down to the American people?
  
  Asking them to believe that Butch is any more than a figurehead.
  
  A sock puppet.
  
  He couldn’t even fire his LAUNDRY maid. (She’s proably a spook, anyway…)
  
  Make them understand THAT, and the wh0ole admisitration (PLUS the Ratpub Congress) is as gone as yesterday’s news.
  
  Butch fire Cheney!!!
  
  I can see it now.
  
  Butch-“Ahhhh…Dick…ahhhh…I have to demand your resignation.”
  
  Cheney: “AHHHHHHH HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!! That’s a GOOD one, son! A man in my position of authority NEEDS a good laugh once in a while. Now…go fuck yourself.”
  
  Ridiculous on the face of it.
  
  MAKE THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WAKE UP TO THIS FACT!!!.
  
  Otherwise…the masquerade just keeps right on going.
  
  AG
  - howieinseattle on March 20, 2006 at 6:25 pm
    
    So would your answer to the question as Russert posed it (to Murtha from The President: “what should I do today?”), were you a Member of Congress would be–“You can’t do anything!”

Ed J on March 20, 2006 at 8:43 am

of Democrats who know the right answer to the question: “Was your vote for the invasion a mistake?”

REP. MURTHA: It was a mistake. It was a bad mistake.

Street Kid on March 20, 2006 at 12:01 am

I saw this earlier and was wondering what I missed!

“I don’t think we can pay any attention to that kind of thing,” Cheney said on CBS “Face the Nation.” “The president has got a job to do. … He ignores the background noise that’s out there in the polls that are taken on a daily basis.”

Bush’s job approval in March was at 37 percent, which tied for his lowest rating in the AP-Ipsos poll. Senior Republicans and others have said the Bush team may need an infusion of fresh blood and ideas.

Cheney, in a rare Sunday morning television interview, told CBS that he heard similar grumbling 30 years ago when he was chief of staff for President Ford.

“Administrations go through peaks and valleys,” he said. “When you’re down in the polls you’re going to take shots that you don’t deserve, and when you’re up in the polls you’re probably going to get praise you don’t deserve.”

Asked if he and Bush had a “good cop, bad cop” partnership in which Cheney took the heat for controversial policies, the vice president said: “It may look that way. It’s not conscious.”

Added Cheney, who has said he will not seek the presidency: “My job is to do what I can to support him and to support the administration. My advice to him is untainted by any concern I might have on how the folks in Iowa look at me in connection with the 2008 Iowa caucuses.”

Cheney chuckled when asked if he himself had ever considered resigning amid low poll numbers and suggestions by commentators that he was a liability for the administration.

“It’s been a highlight of my career to be a part of this administration,” he said. “I’ve now been elected to a second term, and I’ll serve out my term.”

To political strategists who say that he should step aside with a year or so remaining in his term to give someone a jump on gaining the Republican nomination for president, Cheney said such a move wouldn’t make sense to him. “Nobody has suggested it to me,” he said.

Thanks howie!!
- wilderness wench on March 20, 2006 at 1:18 am
  
  Just an aside, but Cheney’s a fine one for talking about ‘taking shots that you don’t deserve’.
  
  & by the way, dirtbag, no one elected you.
  Except you.
  
  Anything else coming out of Cheney’s mouth is utterly beneath consideration. We, the informed citizens of these United States, know what these people are doing, even if they don’t appear to.
  
  Any reference by Ol’ Scattershot (or any other ‘administration’ figure) to any form or means of democratic governance is just tattered window-dressing.
  
  Pardon my rant. I just can’t stomach this man.
  
  Quite frankly, this very basic dishonesty, in all its cynical arrogance, has become a enormous burden to us all & I, quite personally, find it a big pain in the ass.
  - Street Kid on March 20, 2006 at 1:24 am
    
    No apology necessary for the rant–I can’t stand him either. I caught this one earier today and thought WTF? Now I see!
    - wilderness wench on March 20, 2006 at 1:26 am
      
      Right; it’s reactive. (Dare we say defensive?)
Arthur Gilroy on March 20, 2006 at 1:53 am

Bush?

Fire Cheney?

Rumsfeld?

How do you fire your boss and his wartime consigliere?

Get real.

AG
- howieinseattle on March 20, 2006 at 8:09 am
  
  The audience for Murtha’s comment is not limited to The Chimp, Arthur.
  - Arthur Gilroy on March 20, 2006 at 1:32 pm
    
    I know that.
    
    lety me be clearer.
    
    Why do ‘we”…as if Murtha and I wouldn’t be mortal enemies the moment we walked into the same room…why do “we” keep on talking down to the American people?
    
    Asking them to believe that Butch is any more than a figurehead.
    
    A sock puppet.
    
    He couldn’t even fire his LAUNDRY maid. (She’s proably a spook, anyway…)
    
    Make them understand THAT, and the wh0ole admisitration (PLUS the Ratpub Congress) is as gone as yesterday’s news.
    
    Butch fire Cheney!!!
    
    I can see it now.
    
    Butch-“Ahhhh…Dick…ahhhh…I have to demand your resignation.”
    
    Cheney: “AHHHHHHH HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!! That’s a GOOD one, son! A man in my position of authority NEEDS a good laugh once in a while. Now…go fuck yourself.”
    
    Ridiculous on the face of it.
    
    MAKE THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WAKE UP TO THIS FACT!!!.
    
    Otherwise…the masquerade just keeps right on going.
    
    AG
    - howieinseattle on March 20, 2006 at 6:25 pm
      
      So would your answer to the question as Russert posed it (to Murtha from The President: “what should I do today?”), were you a Member of Congress would be–“You can’t do anything!”
Ed J on March 20, 2006 at 8:43 am

of Democrats who know the right answer to the question: “Was your vote for the invasion a mistake?”

REP. MURTHA: It was a mistake. It was a bad mistake.

Murtha: “Rumsfeld, Cheney should resign”

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