Turned on CNN this morning...

And Press Secretary Scott McClellan was on, the caption underneath said something like "White House thanks Rumsfeld for his service," and I got absolutely giddy. I thought the die was cast. I thought Rumsfeld got the "You're Fired" treatment. I thought he could join the 3 million-plus other unemployed workers under BushCo.

I think it's closer than ever to happening, actually, it would fit in with Bush's campaign meme of "A Reformer with Results." And today's leak that Bush had a scream-fest on the phone with Rummy yesterday obviously reinforces that. But the fact that there would have to be congressional confirmation hearings to appoint a new Defense Secretary makes it very unlikely. It'd just be another chance to beat the administration with a stick for a couple weeks.

But once again, this is a classic "pass the buck" situation. Bush is channel-surfing, sees 60 Minutes II, gets blindsided by these photos, and wonders "How did I not know about this?" after running an administration based precisely on the notion that he not know about anything. It's like the CEO of the company shocked to find out what goes on in the company lunchroom. He's completely insulated from the real-world effects of his policies. Bush runs the White House with a heavy reliance on the people around him, and when they fail, instead of taking the blame for hiring them in the first place, he lays the blame at their feet.

This is not going away, this doesn't deserve to go away. It's the inevitable result of this administration's policies.