RUMSFELD SACRIFICED

"Secretary of War" Donald Rumsfeld has been slain on the altar of public opinion as a peace offering to Nancy Pelosi. Developing...

BBC story...
AP story...

Update (1:30): The new Defense Secretary is likely to be Robert Gates, a CIA agent who rose to become Director of the CIA under George H. W. Bush. Gates has a Ph.D. in Russian and Soviet history from Georgetown, according to his Wikipedia biography. In 2005 Gates turned down an offer to become Director of National Intelligence, choosing to remain president of Texas A&M.

This is an astounding move by the President. Even if Gates declines again, he is 'coming home' to his father's administration, much of which has roundly criticized his decisions in Iraq. Gates brings the staid credentials of both a Washington bureaucrat and a non-beltway academic, a far cry from the cowboy diplomacy of the early years.

Update (1:35): A longer AP article confirms Global Review's instant analysis above:

Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., the House speaker-in-waiting, said at her first post-election news conference that Bush should replace the top civilian leadership at the Pentagon.

It's easy to understand why Rummy could be happy to bail at this point. Pelosi's committee chairmen would be dragging him in for questioning so often he'd wear out the pavement between DoD and Capitol Hill.

Update (1:44): WhiteHouse.gov has live streaming Bush right now... after the press conference the transcript will be there. A reporter just fed Bush the perfect softball: immigration reform, an issue on which he agrees with Democrats more than Republicans in Congress.... press conference just ended, look for the transcript shortly.