Writes Graham:

Rumsfeld has ascribed much of the negative perception of him and the Bush administration to distorted media coverage. "The intellectual dishonesty on the part of the press is serious," he asserted. He groused about "a strong incentive to be negative and dramatic" that had infused much of the coverage. "It's a formula that works. It gets Pulitzers; it gets promotions; it gets name identification on the front page above the fold."

Part of the formula, Rumsfeld added, involved pillorying him along with Bush and Cheney but sparing Powell and Rice. As an example, he noted accusations that Bush and Cheney had lied about Saddam Hussein's possession of weapons of mass destruction in making the case for the invasion of Iraq. "They never say Colin Powell lied," Rumsfeld asserted. "They don't say Condi lied."

Graham also notes that Rumsfeld was so eager to prove that he wasn't the ass everyone thinks he is, that he showed off all sorts of letters from people telling him how great he was, also noting how people treated him like a rock star when he goes out in public.

Rumsfeld wanted to be sure I saw the many letters of praise and kind words he had received following the announcement of his resignation. He had sorted the letters according to source - members of Congress, foreign dignitaries, U.S. military personnel, former associates, friends - and filed them in large, three-ring binders. The correspondence noted Rumsfeld's contributions to the war on terrorism, commended him for his drive to transform the U.S. military, and expressed thanks for his public service.

Such letters seemed to give Rumsfeld some solace amid media commentary that tended to focus on all that had gone wrong - the mistakes made in the Iraq War, the difficult relations with the military chiefs, the tensions with Congress, the quarrels with other NSC members. As low as his popularity was when he left office - Gallup/Harris polls showed him at 34% - Rumsfeld still found that when he dined out at a restaurant or walked along a street, people approached him eager to shake his hand.

Unfortunately, Graham doesn't provide any names of people who wrote letters commending Rumsfeld, but we guess that among them were the names Limbaugh, Bachmann, Cheney and Hannity. Too easy, right?

Donald Rumsfeld in Repose [Time]

Draper notes that the briefings were "a daily digest of critical military intelligence so classified that it circulated among only a handful of Pentagon leaders and the president; Rumsfeld himself often delivered it, by hand, to the White House." You have to wonder: was Rumsfeld sitting over a well-to-do Department of Defense intern, going through loads of pictures and trying to decide what colors he wanted which quotes to be? Or did he do it himself? Either way, these things have more in common with the Zodiac Killer than anything any kind of defense briefing should even remotely look like. Graphic designers, turn away. These aren't pretty, in so many ways.

And He Shall Be Judged [GQ]

Here is a lady following our worst Defense Secretary ever right into the White House Correspondents' Dinner reception, at the Hinkley Hilton. She calls him a war criminal, and shouts at him, and so on. As a blogger who happens to agree that Don Rumsfeld is a war criminal, we are all, "oh, lady, stop it, we are so embarrassed."

But, you know, the first time we went to this event, the Correspondents Dinner, we saw Henry Kissinger hanging out five feet away from George Clooney (they weren't together), in the Newsweek reception or something, wearing a little tux, fat and rich and at the satisfying end of a full and comfortable life.

And no one was shouting at him, and he was having just a wonderful little time, and everyone—liberal, conservative, politician, journalist—was polite or obsequious to him, and we just didn't really know what to think or do, in that situation, confronted with a man who'd killed 600,000 Cambodians and then set up the Pinochet coup for good measure. It's not our responsibility to arrest him, or even yell at him, but it's nice that someone is at least making these people uncomfortable, when they go out in polite society, where they're are still welcomed with open arms and free hors d'oeuvres. Even if the person making them uncomfortable is just confirming all their stereotypes about unhinged hippies.

Update: According to Variety, Rumsfeld was so flustered that he came to think of himself as a mere beast!

The event drew no where near the GOPers of the Bush years —- one attendee called last year's event "glum" —- but figures like Newt Gingrich mingled at the pre-dinner parties. A beaming Rumsfeld seemed unfazed as he entered to the woman's shouts of "War criminal! Arrest this man!" right in his face. Asked about it by Variety, he threw his hands up in the air and said, "They are out front demonstrating about animals... It is life in America."

Either that or he's so deluded that he doesn't actually hear or process negative criticism.

Tom Daschle
February 2, 2009: Obama is asked if he still supports Daschle's nomination as Secretary of Health and Human Services after Daschle admitted his failure to pay more than $140,000 in back taxes. He responds "Absolutely."

February 3, 2009: Daschle withdraws nomination, Obama tells NBC News, "I screwed up."

Lag time: 1 day.

Alberto Gonzales
April 23, 2007: George Bush says Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee "increased [his] confidence" in Gonzales.

August 27, 2007: Gonzales resigns.

Lag time: 4 months, 4 days.

Donald Rumsfeld
April 18, 2006: Bush says Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld "is doing a fine job.... I have strong confidence in Don Rumsfeld."

November 8, 2006: Rumsfeld resigns.

Lag time: 6 months, 21 days.

Harriet Miers
October 5, 2005: Bush says, "Harriet Miers is going to be confirmed and people will get to see why I put her on the bench. She is an extraordinary woman."

October 27, 2005: Miers withdraws her nomination.

Lag time: 22 days.

Average: 86 days. Talk to you in June, Tim!

Anyway the Senate Armed Services committee says Donald Rumsfeld and his deputies are personally responsible for torture, and then lying about the torture. Rummy says the torture didn't hurt America, it was Carl Levin and his stupid report that hurt America (seriously). Please join Andrew Sullivan for lots of outrage because you sure as fuck won't find any on your television sets. You should go read the unclassified executive summary, even though it's totally less entertaining than the Blago complaint.

• There's a lot of backbiting and infighting at the Los Angeles Times, which is completely unusual behavior at a major newspaper. [NYT]
  
• Kurt Eichenwald's "checkbook journalism" controversy may keep him out of the first issue of Portfolio, which should give him plenty of free time to file that lawsuit he keeps talking about. [WWD]
  
• Quick recap of the action in the first week of Conrad Black's fraud trial. [ToTheCenter]
  
• At this point we don't care who buys Tribune, we just want to see an end to this fucking story. Now Ron Burkle and Eli Broad have popped up again. [NYT]
  

• Donald Rumsfeld was asked to guest-edit the LAT's Current section after producer Brian Grazer. Say sources at the paper, "We wanted to find someone responsible for a bigger disaster than Cinderella Man." [DHD]
  
• Those American Media numbers: not so good. [WWD]
  
• Dana Vachon: not a fuckup. Dana Vachon's audience: Easily influenced. [NYM]
  
• Former Voice editor David Blum returns to his old stomping grounds to bemoan the lack of critics willing to take on Joan Didion. There's a lot of unpacking to do on this one. [NYS]
  
• The album is dying. Articles about the death of the album, however, seem to have a healthy future. [NYT]
  
• Esquire EIC David Granger's in-laws promise that he's still pure Tennessee. So sweet! [Thomas P.M. Barnett]

We have no idea who did this or why, but it was probably inevitable.

Donald the Shitter [photobucket]

Earlier: Breaking: Donald Rumsfeld Joining Atoosa Rubenstein In Pursuing Other Options
Another Reason Why We Will Never Understand Williamsburg

Yep, it's true. Defense Secretary Donald Rumseld is packing it in. This won't come as a shock to those of you who keep in touch with the muckraking journal which broke the story late last evening, the Wall Street Jour— er, the New York T— er, the National Enq— huh? Oh, right, the Comedy Central blog. Nice work, media! You got scooped by the folks who write web promos for Mind of Mencia!

12:15a ET - Only Like the Biggest (Maybe) Newsbreak of the Night [CCInsider]
GOP officials: Rumsfeld stepping down [AP]

It's a matter of physics.

CNN.com