A reader writes:
In response to this quote from Donald Rumsfeld …
This administration, the White House and the State Department, have failed to get a status of forces agreement. A trained ape could get a status of forces agreement. It does not take a genius.
… you make the absurd leap to claim that Rumsfeld “described the first black president as inferior to a trained monkey.” That’s a low blow, and a baseless one. “So easy a trained monkey could do it” is an extremely common phrase. And immediately prior to using it, Rumsfeld refers to “the administration, the White House and the State Department” – which collectively encompass thousands of people, not just Obama, whom Rumsfeld doesn’t even call by name.
Even Jamelle Bouie, who’s very left-liberal when it comes to race, insists that it’s “unfair is to attack him for race-baiting”:
In fact, when you consider the full interview, it’s easy to see the rhetorical logic. Rumsfeld spends most of the segment complaining about the poor diplomacy of the administration, condemning John Kerry, Joe Biden, and others for their treatment of Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai. … [T]his isn’t an attack on a person, it’s an attack on an approach.
I know you despise Rumsfeld, and rightly so. He’s an arrogant asshole, and for him to criticize anyone when it comes to Afghanistan is the height of chutzpah. But to accuse him of crude racism like that – something you just recently slammed liberal critics of Paul Ryan for – is really out of line.
I withdraw that slippery aside.
The Dish 