McCain and Rumsfeld

Not only should the press stop saying John McCain called for Don Rumsfeld's resignation when he made no such call, they might want to note that he specifically attacked those who were calling for a Rumsfeld resignation. Here he is in November of 2003:

AUDIENCE: My name is Sabah Elbardisi (sp) with Al Jazeera TV. Senator, Mr. Gephardt spoke on Sunday and said that Mr. Rumsfeld is not doing a good job, and he stopped short of calling for his resignation. He also said that the presidents cannot leave the responsibilities for their subordinates. Are you also calling for his resignation? Or what are you calling for?

McCain: No. I think there are certain things that happen with the elections; a president to select his team is certainly a part of that. I certainly would not advocate that.

This came in the context of a speech followed by Q&A in which McCain discussed problems in Iraq at length and didn't mention sectarianism at all and, indeed, he seemed to be unaware of the existence of a Shiite-Sunni split in Iraq.

UPDATE: "Attack" is too strong a word. The point, however, is that people were calling for Rumsfeld's resignation, McCain was asked about those people, and McCain said those people were wrong. For McCain to turn around and characterize that as him calling for Rumsfeld's resignation is highly dishonest.