We didn’t actually see Donald Rumsfeld on Meet the Press over the weekend, but we did get to hear him — or at least some of him — on the C-SPAN Radio rebroadcast in our car. The radio kept cutting in and out as we drove, but we think we got the gist of it:
“You know, the suggestion that things go nicely or good in a war is just not the case. . . . Mm-hmm. . . . I see people look at it and say, ‘Well, my goodness, what about this? What about that?’ Well, that’s always been true. . . .”
“I don’t remember . . . . Well, there are various ways to measure it. . . . Now, what does that mean? Does it mean that the insurgency’s stronger? Is it in its last throes? The last throes could be violence, as you well know from a dictionary standpoint. . . . ”
“Who knows? Time will tell. . . . I just don’t know. I can’t speak to that. . . . I never estimated the cost of the war. And how can one estimate the cost in lives or the cost in money? I’ve avoided it consistently. And how can that be a misestimate?”
“Tough to know. I don’t know the answer to the question. I didn’t then and I don’t know. . . .”
“I don’t do politics. . . .”
“I didn’t say that. . . .”
“No. I think — maybe I’m wrong. I don’t go to these meetings. ”
