I LIKE DONALD RUMSFELD He's right near the top of the "living people I've never met but nonetheless have warm feelings for" list, trailing the Pope. (I try to reserve my affection for people I actually know, which is, I think, a rarity in this celebrity-obsessed world of ours, but I am, of course, an old-fashioned guy.) There's just something magnetic about Rummy. He's the kind of guy who could convince me to join a cult, I think. Sure, it would be a square, Midwestern cult, but it would be evil and cultish nonetheless.

I seem to have lost my original point. Stories like this one, in which it's revealed that Rummy turned down Time's "Man of the Year" honors and suggested they give it to "the American soldier" instead, are, I think, a large part of why I dig the guy so much. You may point out: the story put forward by the Time editors doesn't necessarily confirm Rummy's account, does it? And: doesn't Rumsfeld lose most of the humble points he picked up by refusing the honor by bragging at a holiday party about how he declined the honor, and then having that bragging get reported in the Congressional newspaper? I say: Do not question the decisions of the leader. He loves you. Why can you not see this? He suffers so much for our sake, and you reward him with your doubts? Do not question the leader. He will know what to do.


The night time is the right time. The night time is the right time.