Rumsfeld: Misguided good guy, or evil manipulator?

[TexasSissy]

I must confess something, and I am wondering if anyone else feels the same way. I like Rumsfeld. Okay, there, I said it. He strikes me at a gut level of being a good guy, though seriously misguided and with strong ego problems like most men of power. I have been known to be gullible at times, though, and I recognize that. Still....he answers questions quickly and to the point. He obviously doesn't consider much the bad ramifications of what he says (judging by some of his answers), which implies to me that he is being truthful.

But...could he be part of the axis of evil in the administration? I don't think of him as an evil manipulator, as Bush, Cheney, and Wolfowitz obviously are. But...could he be? He should be fired, for sure, for doing such an incompetent job with Iraq. But when I see him in an interview (like the one of several months ago with Chris Matthews), I just get a gut level reaction that he is being forthright and honest, whether we like the answers or not. And at least Rumsfeld took responsibility for Abu Ghraib (although responsibility without accountability doesn't mean much). Still, it's more than Cheney or Bush or Wolfowitz have done.

So...is he a misguided good guy at heart? Or an evil manipulator, like Bush and the others? (If the latter, please pray for me!)

[Literate Tar Heel]

1. if I prayed

I'd be praying for you

[CaTeacher]

4. he frightens me.

but you are right--unlike some other people, he has taken responsibility for some of what he has done.

[Birthmark]

2. Can't we decide this at his sentencing?

[rooboy]

3. There is nothing redeemable about Donald Rumsfeld.

He is HATED in the Pentagon, and he is responsible for the military being in a MESS. What is there to like about him?

[liberalmuse]

5. A lot of good people loved Hitler...

It's very rare that a person who is considered 'evil' sees him or herself that way. Hitler thought he was doing the right thing. Bush really believes he is a 'man of the people' and some sort of savior. How messed up is that?

Personally, I can't stand Rumsfeld. He comes across as a duplicitous, arrogant asshole. I can respect candor, but in Rumsfeld's case, what appears at first to be 'candor', more often than not turns out to be a lie. It's likely that he and Cheney were the ones who gave the okay to torture Iraqi dissedents while Bush stared blankly on.

No, I do not like Rumsfeld. He reminds me of a fucking cadaver, like most of the rest of the Bush junta. I expect maggots to come crawling out of their eyes and black ooze to start dripping from the corner of their mouths whenever I see them on tv. Fucking EVIL sons of hell.