Obama 'gutting military' by purging generals

[Admiral Yi]

The Constitution does not demand that congressmen act like dickheads during hearings.

[KRonn]

Some pretty intense comments by Gates, much of which I can understand. Some troubling things there. Congress too gets reamed, and rightly so. Too many in Congress do what's best for them politically rather than best for the important national issues. What I don't really understand is how Gates, as Sec Defense and confidant of/to the administration, comes out with a book like this revealing all the unsavory sides while he was serving and had the confidence of officials in the admin.

[DontSayBanana]

Some pretty intense comments by Gates, much of which I can understand. Some troubling things there. Congress too gets reamed, and rightly so. Too many in Congress do what's best for them politically rather than best for the important national issues. What I don't really understand is how Gates, as Sec Defense and confidant of/to the administration, comes out with a book like this revealing all the unsavory sides while he was serving and had the confidence of officials in the admin.

Seems a little opportunistic, right?

[grumbler]

Dude, you've got some major blinders on when it comes to military ego.

So this time the ad hom is directed at me, not Gates? 

  "There is no son of a bitch in the world who can talk to me like that" is bordering on narcissism at best.  You don't like the legislature exercising checks and balances on the executive?  Go find another government to bitch about.  Or did you miss that as a kid because "Schoolhouse Rock"was too newfangled for you?

Dunno WTF you are talking about here.  Gates is describing a fantasy he had.  He never actually said "there is no son of a bitch in the world who can talk to me like that!"     If you think that fantasizing about telling off people you are pissed off at is "bordering on narcissism" you don't know what the word narcissism means.  What does "Schoolhouse Rock" have to do with anything?

And I'll grant it borders on ad hom, but what I mean to say is, unlike you and Siege, to me, his egotistical diatribes damage his credibility to the point where I'm not going to blindly accept any "truths" based solely on his word.  Politicians have lied for convenience's sake.  So have memoir authors.

Unlike you and Siege, I don't take any author at his word.  I am skeptical about the truth of statements that I agree with, not just the ones I don't.

[grumbler]

What I don't really understand is how Gates, as Sec Defense and confidant of/to the administration, comes out with a book like this revealing all the unsavory sides while he was serving and had the confidence of officials in the admin.

Agree, to some degree.  What I find troubling is not that he revealed what he saw as an insider, but that he did so while the administration was still in office.  Once it is out of office, it is fair game, but to tell tales out of school where enemies of the administration or the country can use them against a sitting president? Not kosher.

[Siege]

Wait, how the hell did I get into this discussion?
I do not take authors at face value.
I critically read their papers and I disagree when they are being retarded, unfair, unbalanced, biased, and unscientific.

[Phillip V]

http://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21593499-barack-obamas-former-defence-secretary-chides-his-old-boss-everything-was-political

[KRonn]

Great cartoon! 

[Siege]

Obama can't write.

[Ed Anger]

Obama can't write.

*takes a drink*

[Savonarola]

Obama can't write.

*takes a drink*

L'chaim!

[Alcibiades]

Wait, how the hell did I get into this discussion?
I do not take authors at face value.
I critically read their papers and I disagree when they are being retarded, unfair, unbalanced, biased, and unscientific.

I'm not convinced you know up from down.....

[Razgovory]

Great cartoon! 

  Though sadly not unexpected from you.

[Siege]

Wait, how the hell did I get into this discussion?
I do not take authors at face value.
I critically read their papers and I disagree when they are being retarded, unfair, unbalanced, biased, and unscientific.

I'm not convinced you know up from down.....

What are you talking about?



The one on top is up and down (elevation), the one on the bottom is left and right (traverse).
M192 tripod beats M122!

[Jacob]

Best quote from Gates' kiss-and-tell-book about the still sitting administration:

I was put off by the way the president closed the meeting. To his very closest advisers, he said, "For the record, and for those of you writing your memoirs, I am not making any decisions about Israel or Iran. Joe, you be my witness." I was offended by his suspicion that any of us would ever write about such sensitive matters.