What a Difference 30 Years Makes

The Washington Post has Nixon Tapes excerpts mentioning current Defense Secretary Don Rumsfeld:

Using the Nixon Tapes — the gift that will forever keep on giving — Mann found Nixon one night fretting about “the Rumsfeld problem.”

…In an April 7, 1971, chat, Nixon, Kissinger and then-Chief of Staff H.R. “Bob” Haldeman talked about the war in Vietnam. “I think Rumsfeld may be not too long for this world,” Nixon said, a few minutes later suggesting, “Let’s dump him.”

This next exchange is oddly reminiscent of what just happened to Rumsfeld on Iraq policy:

“He’s just positioning himself to be close to The Washington Post and the New York Times,” Kissinger said. (This is what the shrinks might call “projection.”)

“Well then, let’s dump him after this” speech to the nation that evening, Nixon said. “Good God, we’re sending him . . . on a two-month holiday to Europe. . . . For what purpose?”

“To get him out of town,” Kissinger said.”

AB