Posted by
Contrarian Guitarist on Saturday, December 09, 2006 3:37:48 AM
On
Yahoo: Robert Gates went before the
Senate Armed Services Committee today and was confirmed 24-0.
The goose egg is probably attributable to the rabid fury by the sitting Democrats on the committee to rid us of Rumsfeld (who in my estimation is the best thing to happen to the press conference since the microphone).
A couple of quotes of note....
""In my view, all options are on the table, in terms of how we address this problem in Iraq," he told the committee. But he also acknowledged the complexity of the challenge."
That was for the Democrats and...
""There are no new ideas on Iraq," he said during a discussion of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group, which previewed its findings and recommendations to President Bush Tuesday and will release them Wednesday. Gates was a member of the group until Bush announced his nomination for the Pentagon job last month."
That was for the Republicans.
The diatribe from the left has been the lack of openness to new ideas by the Bush Administration. According to Gates, "There are no new ideas on Iraq", implying in this round of questions re: the Iraq Study Group, that even... dramatic pause here, the administration considered talks with Iran and Syria.
The committee (including Senators Levin, Kennedy, Clinton and Bayh) seemed to endorse that conclusion by endorsing Gates.
So maybe the zero in 24-0 is really the letter "O". And the maybe the "O" stands for the Openness of the Bush Administration. And maybe it was a secret signal to the President that they know that he has been open all along. And maybe... oh, nevermind.