MSNBC: Richard Armitage Resigns

[Eurobabe]

Bye-bye! We'll miss you!

[molly]

1. Whoa!!!!

rats leaving the ship.

[lil-petunia]

4. With Powel gone, he had a snowball's chance

plus, Cheney hated Armitage.

More and more this is turning out to be Cheney's administration.

we are watching a hostile takeover of our country. The Neocons have won, and are pressing the point. look out civil rights.

[itzamirakul]

16. Rice will be in the forefront of...

dismantling the Civil Rights Laws. After all, didn't she say something about "segregation would have come to an end all by itself. We really didn't need a Civil Rights Movement?"

[Blue_Roses]

18. Strong words coming from a BLACK woman who's grandfather

was a cotton picker. I'm sure her grandfather is turning over in his grave at his granddaughter's turncoat ways now.

[Name removed]

58. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[earthside]

26. A Purge

Indeed ... this is a 'hostile takeover' ....

I disagree with those who are saying these are rats desserting a sinking ship. This is more like a Hitlerian or Stalinist purge (the only thing missing are the bullets, but fat, juicy corporate jobs and payoffs will work just as well at keeping these peole quiet).

So far the folks we are seeing named to replace the resignees are total Bush lackeys ... complete 'yes' people. Bush isn't reaching out to bring in highly qualified new faces, he is becoming more insular, more closed, more demanding of complete loyalty.

This is very bad news for our nation ... we are watching the Nazification of the federal government.

[wickywom]

29. I saw a bio on her....

it seems quite likely to me that there may be some "issues".

If I have to listen to one more old republican white person with a long history of making bigot-esque comments about black people ask me...

"what do you think of Condi? "-- just so they can respond,
" I just love her, she is soooo intelligent.. --- duhh

as if finally , there's a black women they can be proud of....

[Demeter]

39. Intelligent? Give 3 Examples

And sucking up to Bush does not qualify.

[MaineDem]

2. Are they sure this time?

First Ridge...then not Ridge.

But Chimpy is really cleaning house, isn't he?

[maddezmom]

3. ciao, you won't be missed

RICHARD ARMITAGE QUIETLY CONFIRMED
AS DEPUTY SECRETARY OF STATE

FTW - On March 23, after being recommended in a unanimous 18-0 vote by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, former Vietnam-era covert operative and Contra-era figure Richard Armitage was confirmed as Deputy Secretary of State in a voice vote on the Senate Floor. The unchallenged confirmation of a figure who had previously been investigated by President Reagan's Commission on Organized Crime (1984) for alleged links to gambling and prostitution was totally ignored by the major American media. Armitage has already begun work at the State Department and is deeply involved in negotiations over a US spy plane recently captured by the Chinese government.

The total lack of opposition to Armitage's appointment indicates an apparent inability of the US Congress to muster any critical examination of appointments or policy at a time when an imperiled US economy and an almost combative Bush Administration is dealing with mounting economic and political challenges around the globe.

Armitage, who was denied a 1989 appointment as Assistant Secretary of State because of links to Iran-Contra and other scandals, served as Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs in the Reagan years. U.S. Government stipulations in the Oliver North trial specifically named Armitage as one of the DoD officials responsible for illegal transfers of weapons to Iran and the Contras. But Armitage's dirty past goes much deeper.

A Vietnam veteran and graduate of Annapolis, Armitage's roots have been thoroughly intertwined with the likes of CIA veteran Ted Shackley, Richard Secord, Heine Aderholt, Elliot Abrams, Dewey Clarridge, Edwin Wilson and Tom Clines. All of these men have been directly linked to CIA covert operations, the drug trade, the abandonment of U.S. prisoners of War after Vietnam and/or Iran-Contra. Armitage has also been routinely discussed in FTW as a Bush-era covert functionary who has been linked to covert operations, drug smuggling and the expansion of organized crime operations in Russia, Central


http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/politics/armitage_SS.html

[Judi Lynn]

19. Thanks for posting the Armitage link. Really makes you wonder

just how loathesome a man has to be before a Republican Congress wouldn't approve his appointment to a high office.

Ordinarily you'd be glad to see him going, until you realize _Bush doesn't feel he has to watch his back anymore, and can "let it all hang out" now.


Richard Armitage

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

25. ...or just how loathsome a man has to be before

Dem Senators will oppose his nomination.

[Eurobabe]

5. maybe they just ought to say this

[Ilsa]

12. Dammit, your little button doesn't work! :) n/t

[msanthrope]

13. I double-clicked it about 90 times, too....n/t

[jmcgowanjm]

6. you knew he would, he's Powell's right hand

Look for Asa Hutchinson to replace Ridge.
And Guv Mike Huckabee (AR Baptist Rep.) to
succeed Thompson.

Source: Ar DemGazette.

[Ilsa]

8. This would be the same Hutchinson that

preached moral values, then dumped his wife for a younger staffer? I wonder how he and Gov. Covenant-Marriage Huckabee will get along in Cabinet meetings? (even though they are from the same state)

[City Lights]

33. I thought his brother, tim, was the one who preached values

while banging his staffer. I heard rumors about asa and laura ingram. :puke:

[Elidor]

23. Please, god, no, tell me you're joking

Not them

[grumpy old fart]

28. Asa Hutchinson?

Oh that's right, the drug war czar. Guess that was a "mission accomplished" too!

[jmcgowanjm]

36. I know the Hutchinson's

Way too close to say here.

Asa is no 3 man in Homeland Security now.

Tim (had marriage divorce, split the family, still not on
speaking terms) was Senator, pissed off too many
Eastern, Central Arkansans.

Blanche Lincoln replaced him.

Huck leaving would bring a Rockefeller (Paul)
Lt Guv to the fore.

[KamaAina]

60. Thompson and Huckabee: Dumb and Dumber

Maybe next year Huckabee will want to "spend more time with his family" and be replaced by Forrest Gump...

[Ilsa]

7. I'm surprised it wasn't the same day.

RA made it clear he'd be gone when Powell left.

Goodbye, Uncle Fester.

[RedSock]

10. usual turnover?

there is always turnover, but this seems like a lot.

[librechik]

9. Uncle Fester quits!

NE suffers power failure...

[fugue]

11. Is anyone else fighting a feeling of rising terror?

All these folks leaving . . . what scary people are we going to get in their place?

Hell, I'd rather fear snow and grizzlies than my own government!

[Kira]

17. That's what I was thinking.

If Armitage is considered a "moderate" by these criminals, we are in trouble. Was he having conflicts with them?

[bluedog]

21. this is getting scary

it looks to me like bush is starting to install a ..........'dictatorship" .............in the US......all these people know something is going down and are leaving....being replaced with only "yes" people.........its not looking good folks........

our congress people can't hold these repigs back..we can't hold these pigs back.....what can we really do to stop this from happening?.........our country is changing before our very eyes......

[0007]

48. Heading into bad times for sure.

[RyomaSakamoto]

35. the week of long knives

knowing that the new people will be out right neoCON wackos makes me very nervous.

WOLFOWITZ will probably take his place

:scared:
(on edit: the spellcheck here gives a good synonym suggestion for 'WOLFOWITZ' HALFWIT - lol)

[amber dog democrat]

51. If you added a little paint brush mustache the resemblance is interesting.

I am sure he would be just as ruthless.

[cali]

14. Armitage and Powell were far more reasonable

than anyone bushbot will appoint to succeed them. They acted as brakes against the momentum of the neocons. Sure the brakes failed, but we don't know how often they actually worked. I, for one, am not cheering these resignations,

[Emboldened Chimp]

46. I'm with you on this one...

Armitage and Powell were both pragmatists. Their positions will be replaced with true believers. Not good.

[barb162]

53. me neither; They did try to act as brakes, but it didn't work

[lateo]

15. Didn't he just get appointed?

Leaving so soon?

[liberal N proud]

20. Just part of the PURGE!

Anyone who does not think like them will be purged.

[cubsfan forever]

24. Purge is correct. And the corporate

whores, er, media, don't even bother to question for a second the use of this word. They even encourage its use. The media are part and parcel of the propaganda machine. Folks, this is EXACTLY like Nazi Germany.

Professor 2

[bluedog]

31. remember......"nights of the long knives"?

instead of killing these people .....bush and cheney are "encouraging" them to leave.......inorder to install their own people..........like a dictatorship in the happening.

[cubsfan forever]

32. You are well-versed in history

which is, unfortunately something the vast majority of Americans are not. Most people would rather get their "news" from cable television "sources," and other corporate outlets of misinformation.
They would also rather immerse themselves in the Peterson trial and "reality shows" instead of removing their heads from the sand and taking a long, hard look at what the fascists are doing. If they did, they would be horrified at what they see. Unless, of course, they are good, moral 'Publicans or idiots. But I repeat myself.

Professor 2

[6th Borough]

34. Hell, Armitage even looks like Ernst Roehm. Spitting image!

Shave off the moustache...

Night of the Long Knives indeed...

[amber dog democrat]

43. Chimpies SA has to go

and behind the scenes he has created an SS.
Its the rapidity that amazes me. They are not wasting any time getting their pieces on the board. I thought we had a fool's hope of heading this off. Guess I was mistaken. Oh well, the Chimp squeaks, we bear what follows.
Cant wait for the volksgemeinschaft to begin.

[rodeodance]

54. hostile takeover as someone else said is more correct!!

[Cocoa]

22. more time with his family

[Zero Gravitas]

27. The horror,

the horror.

[Roland99]

30. The First PNAC Casualty!

May this be the first of many!!

[Minstrel Boy]

37. It was to be expected

For a year or so it's been out there that both Powell and Armitage would not be around for a second term.

Armitage is, I think, ideologically in tune with the neocons, despite his loyalty to Powell.

I look for him to keep his hand in the empire-building business outside officialdom.

[mrdmk]

55. You are correct, this was posted in the Washington Post (?)

and some other news feeds about a year ago, and low and behold the story was quilled big time, in short order never the less.

Powell was probably asked to keep his resignation under wraps on until the election was over, which he did. Now he makes the announcement. There is one problem, the election is not over, with or without the media's medaling. Like a good soldier Powell kept his mouth shut and before anything is in concrete, this administration starts changing things for the worst.

Dr.(ha ha) Rice for Secretary of State, my ass! I hope she gets burned badly in the confirmation hearings.

[PurityOfEssence]

38. Funny who's considered a moderate these days...

...but all joking aside, in comparison to the rest of them, he was. He was also Powell's boy, so he had to fall on his sword too.

[BlueManDude]

40. The CIA is now a rat's nest of liberals!!! Lord help us.

[amber dog democrat]

49. That floors me as well.

I have not had all that much appreciation or respect for the CIA even in good situations. As ineffecient as they seem to be , ( I'd take MASSAD sp? anytime ),
replacing seasoned agency spooks with right wing idiologues is frightening.
We may wind up with something like the DINA, ( the Chilean secret police ) or the NKVD, ( the secret agency before the KGB - or maybe the GESTAPO - secret state police of the Thrid Reich ).

Where will the checks on abuse of power be if all but the Chimp Admin zeallots are gone? Maybe I need to start contacting counselates.

[Bucky]

41. Armitage was a true conservative. When neocons say moderate they mean SANE

[barb162]

50. If you see my post a few lines below, I was reading over the last

few years he absolutely hated the Bushies. He was a true diplomat who believed in international cooperation who tried making things go smoothly with other countries and looked at the Bushies as an extremely destructive force for friendly world relations. He couldn't stand Cheney, Bush and the whole rest of the top Bushies.

[indypaul]

42. Zell said it all

"I wish we still lived in the time when you could just
challenge a man to a duel."

[Mike Niendorff]

44. Macchiavelli 101.

Move hard right out of the gate. Same trick they used after 2000. Lurch fast, and count on short memories and acclimatization.


MDN

[barb162]

45. everything I know about Armitage is that he was moderate liberal,

internationalist, an excellent statesman and loyal to Powell. Somewhere or other, I read how he talked about the Bush White House like it was a den of thieves, idiots and liars. There is no way he could survive with the neocons without Powell's protection.

[chiburb]

47. Or... his work of spying on Powell for the neocons is ended? n/t

[barb162]

52. somehow or other I don't think so; I wish I could remember where

I was reading this stuff, but I think one of the references was the Bob Woodward book on going to war in Iraq. Powell and Armitage were trying like hell to not go to war, then trying to stall it, etc. Powell never denied anything in that book and everything was multiply-sourced.

[Strelnikov_]

57. He Was Being Talked Up As Kerry SecDef

So he must have some bipartisan support.

[kostya]

56. You all assume that these cabinet members are being "dismissed"

but keep in mind that they can't install their fascist rule entirely from within the government. I'd be watching to see where the resignees end up in the corporate world or think tanks. Loyal troops are needed out there too, especially ones that already have the inside contacts. - K

[Neshanic]

59. "Armi's No-Neck Shirt Shop." So what ya got there, a 32?