John Kerry continued his irresponsible rhetoric this morning on the Don Imus show, again insisting on the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and claiming that changing DoD leadership in time of war would have no effect:

Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry (news - web sites) said Wednesday any number of people, including Republican Sens. John McCain and John Warner, could replace Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, rejecting concerns that a change in Pentagon (news - web sites) leadership could hurt the war effort.

"If America has reached a point where only one person has the ability in our great democracy to manage the Pentagon and to continue or to put in place a better policy even, we're in deeper trouble than you think," Kerry told broadcaster Don Imus. "I don't accept that. I just don't accept that. I think that's an excuse. The fact is that we need a change in policy."

First off, demanding a resignation from a Cabinet official because you don't like the policy being implemented is nothing more than a partisan attack, almost by definition. Rumsfeld implements the policies of the president he serves, and those policies should be addressed at the ballot box. Resignations are only appropriate for malfeasance or incompetence. So far, Rumsfeld has directed two of the most impressive military campaigns in American history, liberating almost 50 million people at the loss of less than 1,000 Americans, thus far, to battle casualties. He accomplished this in the face of his critics (both then and now) who warned that we would suffer the same fate as the British and the Soviets in Afghanistan and that the Iraqi Army would humiliate us on the streets of Baghdad.

Even more troubling, Kerry sees no strategic or tactical issues with changing leadership of the armed services at a time of war, when an election is right around the corner that may require yet another change of leadership. That would mean that almost no sooner would a replacement Defense Secretary be brought up to speed than the entire process would have to start anew, assuming Kerry wins the election. Moreoever, during this period, Kerry makes clear, the new Secretary would be changing policies and probably leadership positions within the armed services as well.

And Kerry sees no effect on our battle readiness from all of this activity, no loss of focus on the war? Can the former Navy Lieutenant really be that ignorant of the steps involved, the changes necessary, the time lost to all of that transition? If so, Kerry has emphasized his own incompetence for the office he seeks, and all of this sucking up to John McCain's authentic heroism won't conceal it.

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