Apparently angry over not being informed the Iraqi prisoner scandal (search) was brewing, President Bush held a private meeting with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. And Bush aides have told the press the president rebuked the defense secretary.
Predictably, some people and Democratic politicians are piling on, demanding Rumsfeld resign. We are not going to do that. But we will remind you three weeks ago, we reported that Rumsfeld had lost control of the Iraqi occupation and his mistakes were endangering U.S. troops. At that time, we didn't know anything about the prisoner abuse, but we did know that some military field commanders were discouraged over Rumsfeld's leadership.
We gave the secretary every chance to answer our questions. He would not. Then we let him have it. That led to some angry letters by some “Factor” viewers and even a message board discussion on billoreilly.com about whether I had changed.
Now I found that very interesting. We expect ideologues on both the left and the right to send us angry leaders when their guys are scrutinized. But our case against Rumsfeld was pretty strong.
Now even the president has acknowledged the problem. This isn't an “I told you so” memo. The point I'm trying to make is that when we tell you something, it is true. We have not anything against Secretary Rumsfeld. I thought he did a good job in defeating Saddam. And I've supported the Iraqi war effort.
But my job is to look out for you. And you includes the military men and women fighting the terrorists. If politicians screw up, we're going to point it out no matter what party they represent. Fair and balanced is fair and balanced.
Donald Rumsfeld has made some major mistakes that have hurt his country. And he would not answer serious questions about those mistakes, but now he has to. Friday, he'll be grilled by Congress.
Once again, "Talking Points" is always rooting for America. We want a decisive win against the terrorists who would kill us. We want politicians who are looking out for the folks. And we'll hold all of them accountable for what they do.
Now I understand some of you will reject that approach, but I believe the majority of Americans will respect it. We were right about Rumsfeld. And now, we hope he can make a comeback that benefits America.
And that's a Memo.
The Most Ridiculous Item of the Day
As you may know many Canadians would like the FOX News Channel be legalized in Canada, if they can legalize pot they can legalize us, right? Now right now, Bill C-2 says that if you illegally pull FOX or any other American program not sanctioned by the Canadian government down from the satellite, you can be fined $25,000 and get a year in prison. Even “The Factor” isn't worth that
Once again, we believe the good folks in Canada deserve a wide range of news and opinion. If they can carry us in Beijing, they should be able to carry us in Ottawa. To not do so is ridiculous. So shape up, up there. Come on, FOX News in Canada.
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