Over lunch, some of the guys were watching CNN Headline News on the lunchroom TV, and under the headline “Defending Rumsfeld” they had a general, I think Gen. James Marks, say that it would be “inappropriate” for him to suggest Rumsfeld should be fired, because, being retired, he didn’t know if that would solve the problem.
So I’m hearing “This thing is so FUBAR that firing Rumsfeld won’t help.” That’s “defending”?
Meanwhile, the headline they later reduced this to was “General says firing Rumsfeld would be ‘inappropriate.'”
Two cliches come to mind. First, “Damning with faint praise.” Second, “Grasping at straws.”
