{news} Fw: JOE LIEBERMAN TO REPLACE RUMSFELD?

[Charlie Pillsbury]

this is a fun rumor to spread.  it certainly explains why Joe has been so public about his support for the man I like to call "Baghdad Bush"  in honor of "Baghdad Bob"  who also knew how to paint a rosy picture of the facts on the ground.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Global Network 
To: Global Network Against Weapons 
Sent: Thursday, December 08, 2005 1:44 PM
Subject: JOE LIEBERMAN TO REPLACE RUMSFELD?


  Rummy Exit Rumored; Lieberman Eyed for Job
    By Thomas M. DeFrank and Kenneth R. Bazinet
    The New York Daily News 
    Thursday 08 December 2005

    Washington - White House officials are telling associates they expect Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to quit early next year, once a new government is formed in Iraq, sources said yesterday.

    Rumsfeld's deputy, Gordon England, is the inside contender to replace him, but there's also speculation that Sen. Joe Lieberman - a Democrat who ran against Bush-Cheney in the 2000 election - might become top guy at the Pentagon.

    That's not as farfetched as it might first appear.

    The Daily News has learned that the White House considered Lieberman for the UN ambassador's job last year before giving the post to John Bolton, a Bush adviser said.

    "He thought about it for a week or so and finally said no," the adviser recalled.

    A source close to the White House said Rumsfeld wanted out a year ago, after Bush's reelection, but neither he nor President Bush wanted his departure to appear to have been forced.

    "They didn't want to give the critics the satisfaction that their piling on was what got rid of him," a Bush adviser said.

    Bush has told friends that Rumsfeld is a political liability, but the President has a history of sticking with his personnel baggage until an opportune moment.

    "Only Rumsfeld will make Rumsfeld leave," a White House source said.

    Rumors that Lieberman could replace Rumsfeld started flying early this week, and Bush and Vice President Cheney fanned the flames by quoting the former Democratic veep candidate's pro-war statements.

    The mention of Lieberman's name prompted some Democrats to whisper that he is lobbying for the job.

    "Lieberman seems to be coordinating his statements on the war with the White House," a Senate Democratic source said.

    The source pointed to a news conference this week where Lieberman urged his party not to undermine Bush. The timing of Lieberman's pitch, also this week, to form a bipartisan "war cabinet" to aid Bush was cited as well.

    But Lieberman and Team Bush dismissed the rumors.

    "The U.S. Senate is where Sen. Lieberman wants to be, which is why he is actively campaigning for reelection to his fourth term," the senator's spokeswoman, Casey Aden-Wansbury, said.


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