The best Defense. . .

. . .Secretary in the history of the United States is finally getting some credit from people who are capable of seeing through the motivations of those attacking him most vociferously. Yesterday, Peter Roff explained to anyone willing to listen just why it is that Rumsfeld will be staying in office, and why he should. Simply put, it's because he's made of the stuff that the job calls for -- and that stuff frosts many a Beltway butt.

" Rumsfeld has thick skin and a reservoir of considerable political and intellectual support among the president's base. He also, it should be remembered, has enough money to be doing just about anything he wanted to do in private life. Instead, at an age when many of his contemporaries are sitting on the lanai, enjoying the balmy afternoon breezes on Florida's Atlantic Coast, Rumsfeld has agreed to remain in what may be the third- or fourth-toughest job in the U.S. government.

It will take a lot more than some Capitol Hill crankiness to dislodge him from his post."

And, today, Tony Blankley steps in and delivers a frozen cod to the schnozz of the apoplectic Washington press corps and its newfound allies in the Senate Republican caucus. Calling them out as the nattering nabobs that they are, Blankley points out the fact that the reason Rumsfeld will eventually prove his critics wrong is the fact that he operates with a cold, steely logic that they simply cannot grasp and do not have.

Blankley understands that Rumsfeld is doing an absolutely amazing job with the military he's been given, and is setting about creating the military that will be necessary to combat the forces we will have to face if we are serious about erradicating terrorism as an effective means of assymetrical warfare.

" Transforming our military into a logical structure that can defeat the enemies we will actually face in the 21st century has infuriated the legions of politicians, generals, defense contractors, lobbyists and journalists who have encrusted themselves around the magnificent weapons and methods of bygone days.


Rumsfeld didn't even schmooze the senators. He let his logic do the talking. After many similar incidents, he is now accused of having bad relations and few friends on Capital Hill. If the Pentagon had any more friends there, our fleets would still be powered by canvas and wind — in deference to the illogic of special interests and old sentiments."

At this point, I suppose it would be productive to extend the proverbial olive branch to all those people who are so anxious to see Rumsfeld keelhauled. So, I'll simply say, take heart. As badly as you'd like to see the Defense Secretary forced out of office, you don't want it nearly as badly as Kim Jong Il and Ayatollah Khamenei.