"Even if you think Rumsfeld doesn't deserve to keep the job, he must."

Yes, Pod -- for the children.


Pod's column is, with the possible exception of DeLong's hooey, the stupidest, ass-licking rational for Rumsfeld's continued existence we've yet come across.


Or maybe not, because this -- this! -- surely elevates Pod's Post droppings into the hackosphere of Bush apologia:


And the 150,000 brave men and women of our armed forces who are in Iraq attempting to do something great, could not but realize that their countrymen and their leaders were really and truly washing their hands of the effort. At which point they would rightly lose heart, and they too would begin to lobby for a getaway.


Sure. Iggy?


Rumsfeld has lost the support of the uniformed military officers who work for him. Make no mistake: The retired generals who are speaking out against Rumsfeld in interviews and op-ed pieces express the views of hundreds of other officers on active duty. When I recently asked an Army officer with extensive Iraq combat experience how many of his colleagues wanted Rumsfeld out, he guessed 75 percent. Based on my own conversations with senior officers over the past three years, I suspect that figure may be low.


Shit. Well. One hopes that the remaining 25% -- who don't, inexplicably, want Rumsfeld's head on a stick -- don't "lose heart."