Someone tell me why this guy is going to be the next Secretary of Defense? That he’s not Donald Rumsfeld…..doesn’t do it for me.

Dec. 04, 2006 | Robert Gates won’t be forced to run much of a gauntlet Tuesday during his Senate confirmation hearing on the way to becoming the next secretary of defense. The former CIA director has bipartisan support. And during his interrogation, Washington’s near-total preoccupation with the situation in Iraq will crowd out any serious probing of Gates’ past, including his murky role in the Iran-Contra scandal and the cooking of intelligence on the Soviet Union during Gates’ tenure at the CIA more than a decade ago.

Lawmakers from both parties seem to agree that Gates’ speedy accession is owed to a key qualification — that Gates is not Donald Rumsfeld. When he announced his support for Gates recently, incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said that fact is “the one thing he has going for him.”

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