Teddy's No Longer Drunk

I'd appreciate no Piston's related talk around me for a few days.

"This war has been consistently and grossly mismanaged," Sen. Edward Kennedy (news, bio, voting record), a Massachusetts Democrat, told Rumsfeld. "And we are now in a seemingly intractable quagmire."

"Our troops are dying. And there really is no end in sight. And the American people, I believe, deserve leadership worthy of the sacrifices that our fighting forces have made, and they deserve the real facts. And I regret to say that I don't believe that you have provided either," Kennedy added.

"Well, that is quite a statement," Rumsfeld, flanked by top U.S. commanders, responded. "First let me say that there isn't a person at this table who agrees with you that we're in a quagmire and that there's no end in sight."

"The suggestion by you that people -- me or others -- are painting a rosy picture is false," Rumsfeld.

"The fact is from the beginning of this we have recognized that this is a tough business, that it is difficult, that it is dangerous, and that it is not predictable," Rumsfeld added.

Kennedy asked Rumsfeld: "Isn't it time for you to resign?"