If we americans seem to have lost our pride, less patriotic and admired it is because of this president & his administration...if you like him so much please buy him a kangroo and beg him to come to Australia to live...

Despite valiant (but failed) efforts of FOX news and other supporters to link him with Churchill and truly great leaders, it is quite clear to the American people, and to the world, that a smart man he is not. That is, if you are equating "smart" with "intelligence". As far as "dividing to conquer"..yes, he is "smart".

You Americans think so much about what the rest of the world's opinion of you is, only to lose sight of the fact that most of us follow your lead. It's been righteous for decades and I believe it still is.

I;m thinking the liberal folks are becoming sheepish!

Upon leaving office, President Eisenhower, a Republican, warned against what we have today: the military-industrial complex. The next president, John F. Kennedy, a Democrat, is responsible for implementing the largest post-WWII military buildup. The next president, Lyndon Johnson, a Democrat, pulled us considerably deeper into Viet Nam than JFK ever did. When he realized he messed it all up, he did something honorable: he decided not to run for re-election. The next president, Richard Nixon, a Republican, is responsible for the "cut-and-run" strategy for Viet Nam. We can all thank him for getting the US out of that war even if we have nothing else to thank him for.

When the US fought the Gulf War, our whole country was rallied along with much of the rest of the world. It was a bipartisan effort, not a Republican effort. The same goes for the war in Yugoslavia and the war in Afghanistan.

In the Clinton years, the defense budget was gradually reduced, but by no means drastically. These reduced budgets were drafted and approved year after year by the Republican-dominated Congress. This was the reasonable thing to do, considering that the Cold War, having been waged since 1947, was finally at an end. It wouldn't be large armed forces, but rather more agile armed forces that would be needed to fight the next generation of wars. When Rumsfeld took office in 2001, he agreed with that assessment.

Now it may be difficult for some of you to whom this history lesson is directed, but try to connect the dots and realize you have absolutely no idea what you are talking about and that you'd make the world a better place by closing your mouth while opening your eyes and ears.

The facts are these:

1. While you accuse the liberals or Democrats of being the sole guilty party in drawing down the military, history shows you are wrong.

2. Even if the military were only a "shell" of what it was in the Reagan years, it would still be indisputably the largest and most powerful in the world.

3. The only president to execute the "awful" (gasp!) "cut-and-run" strategy was Nixon. In fact, he based his whole election campaign around it! On second thought, perhaps we could accuse Eisenhower of the "cut-and-run" strategy in dealing with the Korean War, right?

4. General George Patton said it best: Americans love to fight. For the most part, that's right. Americans love a good fight, and when the fight is a just one you'll have no trouble getting the vast majority of Americans rallied, whether they're Democrats or Republicans, conservatives or liberals. It has to be the right thing to do, though. Part of being an American is to fight for what is right, not to fight just for the sake of fighting.

Unfortunately for our entire country and for Iraq, Bush is continuing to have us fight in Iraq just for the sake of fighting. Most of the reasons that took us there and seemed to make the war a just one were lies and fabrications. This war is just like Viet Nam in the sense that we're still there only because we don't yet want to throw in the towel.

There are many characters of this Bush administration that are responsible for those lies and fabrications. They knew the war would be UNjust, yet they led us and our allies into it anyway. For their actions, they are the only ones who are decidedly UNAmerican. Those that oppose the war in Iraq after realizing it is unjust are the real American patriots, and their patriotism can be doubted no more than the members of the armed forces who continue to fight.

Perhaps the lesson that Americans will take away from this is to be careful for what you ask for, because you might not be strong enough to handle it.

Thanks, but we've already seen the Democratic campaign strategy several times; you don't need to remind us.

Nice to see that liberals are still against capital punishment.

Unless you disagree with them.

I am a Democrat, and no fan of Republicans in general. However, President Bush is well on his way to becoming the worst and most infamous leader the Republic has ever had; he is not good enough to shine the shoes of the other Presidents mentioned.

Here is a news flash for former Secretary Rumsfeld, the country doesn't miss him any more than he misses President Bush.

Now be gone you wicked evil man, before someone drops a house on you!

Oddly enough, the fifteen people I personally know living there all but laugh out loud whenever a discussion on current US government occurs.

When they are not angry for the example for their own president, whose nickname is, apparently, "Shrub".

As in, mini-bush.

Cheerio on the failed propaganda piece.

Rumsfeld's point in referencing past Republican presidents is how consistently they've been denigrated by the press while they were in office. That's why he mentions that Eisenhower was treated as a bumbler, that Ford was treated as clumsy and awkward, and that Reagan was treated as a dangerous imbecile in his own fantasy world. The point is not to equate Bush with any of them, but to suggest that those were false portraits of earlier presidents, and that perhaps Bush is also not being given enough credit.

Nixon didn't really fit the analogy, since he was attacked more as evil and corruption personified than as stupid.

Reagan is a great example of a president who was viciously attacked during the first six or so years of his presidency, until they realized the American people just weren't buying it. Then the attacks became less vicious, but more puzzled, as in, "Why aren't people listening more to us?"

Bush is by no means the communicator that Reagan was, so it may be a few years before the rhetoric cools down and he gets the credit he's due.

Then, Bush decided to attack a country that most of us knew (or would have known had he not been lying to us about it) had nothing at all to do with the attacks, and posed almost no threat to our nation. That's when everything sort of went off the rails, and we started on the path to where we are today.

ahhhh I think you got that backwards haven't ya?

It's the Leaders that are lost and the Americans that are looking for one. Uhhhh A Good One that is. And as it stands, that's no small feat!

I just have to wonder, if he can compare Bush to Dwight D. Eisenhower, Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan what Great Statesman does he compare himself to! This man cracks me up! HAHAHA

I can see how George and Him were good buddies they both have the same problem. They're Delusional and on a Grandios Scale!!! Must be a great way to keep the stress level at a low ebb though eh? When things get tough you just imagine yourself to be a Great Man like Eisenhower, Ford or Reagan untill your delusional self actually believes your HE! HAHA Mind over Matter...I heard of that...but never in my wildest dreams imagined it worked that well! Amazing!

Best Laugh I've had all day....Thanks Rummy! I bet Rummy gets signed up for Comedy Hour!

Anyone want to bet me an American Loonie on that one? HA

How could anyone say that? Rummy took the greatest military in history and drove it into the ground, where it still remains.

"Rummy, you're fired." - President Bush

Rumsfeld is right where he belongs – in the past.

During the APEC summit in Australia, Bush appeared to have been acting in an SNL skit:

- Referred to Australia as Austria 3 times.
- Called the summit OPEC instead of APEC and further embarrassed himself by saying that maybe they would invite him to their next summit (Australia and the US are not members).
- Couldn't even find the exit off the stage.

Yeah, the guy is a genius and is undeservedly maligned by the evil liberal media!!

BTW, Rumsfeld sounds like a guy who has few friends.

Puh-lease!

There is a special place in hell for you and those of your ilk!

What is worse than anything is that none of these people will be held accountable for committing near treason, plundering the country's wealth, mass murder of innocent civilians and the destruction of a country.

I am for defending our nation, but, not under false pretenses. If the country needs to go to war, than it is the job of Congress to declare it and define set goals. Truly a tragedy for the history books and the American and Iraqi people.

If only the current administration could be impeached, or also resign prior to it...