by Dana Milbank
None of this pomp -- not even the ruffles and flourishes the drummers played -- could conceal the circumstances: Pace was a reluctant guest at his own retirement party. President Bush and his new defense secretary, Bob Gates, cut Pace loose rather than fight the difficult confirmation battle in the Senate needed to give him another two-year term.
The general was not happy about this -- and he used his farewell yesterday to take a parting shot at antiwar Democrats, the press and the whole uncivil bunch in Washington who "are more interested in making somebody else look bad than they are in finding the right solution."
"I can hear voices right now," the general declared, his finger in the air. He was referring not to demons in his head but to demonstrators at the base gate using a bullhorn to mar the ceremony.
Pace had made no secret of the terms of his ouster, freely admitting that he had refused a request to quit voluntarily. But yesterday he found himself illustrating a Washington twist on an ancient adage: Whom the gods would destroy, they first give a parade. After Gen. Tommy Franks, CIA chief George Tenet and Iraq viceroy Jerry Bremer botched the early part of the Iraq war, Bush honored them with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Likewise, Pace, on his way out the door, got a "Full Honor Review," with Sousa marches, medals, flowers and flyovers.
Pace could have chosen a simpler ceremony, but he declined neither bell nor whistle. The centerfold of the program was a yearbook-style photo collage: Pace at the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Pace on his wedding day, Pace hiking in the mountains with family, Pace on the cover of Parade magazine, Pace on the set of "Meet the Press."
...Bush, in his tribute, spoke vaguely of the reasons for Pace's departure, mentioning the "strength that gave General Pace solace in the tough and sometimes bitter world of Washington." Bush said that Pace brought "selflessness to a city filled with egos," and didn't worry about being in "the good graces of official Washington."
But if Bush was elliptical, Pace didn't conceal the involuntary nature of his departure. "I regret to give up the reins of responsibility," he told the gathering. He spoke quietly enough that it was possible to make out the occasional jeers of the demonstrators encamped outside the gate: "Arrest George Bush for war crimes!"
Clearly, Pace wasn't of a mind to do that. Instead, he offered a testimonial to the man who made the "tough, right decisions" about war. "We wish that all of America could see their president and our commander in chief making decisions after listening very carefully."
While voicing only good feelings about Bush, Pace took the liberty of going "a little bit out of my lane" to take on some unnamed "individuals" who had poisoned the war debate; left unsaid was the likelihood that these were the same individuals who forced his early retirement.
"Our democracy is strengthened by divergent views and dialogue about those views when that dialogue is conducted in a civil manner, in a gentlemanly way," Pace told the gathering.
"What worries me is that in some instances right now we have individuals who are more interested . . . in letting their personal venom come forward, instead of talking about how do we get from where we are to where we need to be."
For a moment, the applause on the parade grounds drowned the jeers from the bullhorn.
Why They Hate the NeoCons.
By Roger L. Simon
The Left was left with little to do, little to organize around. (Bill Clinton, recognizing this, essentially deserted his own side by walking back on welfare issues). Of course, there were gay rights to be resolved, but the rapidity with which most of those rights were achieved is astonishing. It has been less than forty years since the Stonewall Riots to the general societal equality of gays on nearly everything but the marriage issue. The Left was the victim of its own deserved success in the social justice area when…
9/11 happened.
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