This could be some sort of PR stunt as if to say, “Hey, I’m an American patriot and two-time Secretary of Defense, and =I= don’t have any problems with the TSA screening. You shouldn’t, either.”

Doc on July 15, 2011 at 7:22 pm

Why should he be above the law? Shouldn’t he welcome the opportunity to show that he is just like the rest of us, willing to submit to a few moments of annoyance to ensure the safety of others? My father was a 72 year old man with two artificial hips and one artificial knee, and he had to be scanned with a metal detector each and every time he flew somewhere. Was an elderly Jewish man truly a suspicious character warranting that attention? No, but seeing that he, like all passengers, submitted with a little bit of humor made everyone else more likely to be calm and accepting too. Kudos for Rummy for not making a fuss and for not trying to use his status to get out of it.

Arthur Toporovsky on July 15, 2011 at 7:24 pm

We can’t offend the muslims. As a result, the TSA mouth-breathing knuckle-draggers have to look the other way when Achmad and Habbib come through the security line in their muslim garb but are fee to do a body cavity search on the former Secretary of Defense. Unreal.

Jeff on July 15, 2011 at 7:25 pm

I guess you protect the airports with the security procedures you have, not the security procedures you wish you had.

I’m picking on Rummy, he was actually a constant fall guy for a failed administration. Congo-Leeza Rice could do no wrong. Colin Blowell bailed early. Dick (Lon) Cheney was in hiding or the ICU most of the time (but was the mastermind according to lefties who like to believe that their presidents are Earth-Bound Demi-Gods who should be granted kingly powers….but GOP presidents were all moronic puppets controlled by sinister overlords/their wife’s astrologer/Kissinger/etc.)

Rummy Got Fingered on July 15, 2011 at 7:47 pm

I always knew Rummy was a secret jihadist. 😉

CaliforniaScreaming on July 15, 2011 at 9:08 pm

I always thought Rumsfeld was brilliant. Unfortunately, the incompetent Condoleeza Rice and Colin Powell destroyed everything in Afghanistan and Iraq with a Jimmy Carter-like foreign policy of bringing “democracy” to savages and sacrificing thousands of heroes’ lives to set up anti-American governments. Total ineptitude by the liberals in Bush’s cabinet, and yet Rumsfeld was blamed.

Rumsfeld is being searched because of the continuation of Bush’s utopian policy of believing that American democracy will civilize the Muslim barbarian: Everyone has to be searched so that the Muslim’s feelings won’t hurt by profiling. If we show them how we are sacrificing by not profiling them, they will appreciate and love us. Right.

JM on July 15, 2011 at 10:23 pm

I’m as conservative as they come, but I very enjoyed DR getting a little comeuppance. All politics aside, ask anyone from Winnetka and anyone who’s gone to New Trier. The Rumsfelds are horrible.

Anne on July 16, 2011 at 12:18 am

I am just waiting to see Janet Napolitano(the Lesbionic Woman as Debbie calls her) get her treatment grope. I bet it will not happen. I think this is just another stupid attempt of Obamnites to give the middle finger to the previous adminstration and the american public. Oh and will this ever be applied to a current Democrat just to say I am picking on Presiden Obama?

Mario on July 16, 2011 at 4:40 am

It pains me to read the posts of the doc, Anne, RGF and ski. Just line up to have your sheep wool sheered off. Baaaahh, bahhhh. You’re the kind of folks that the nazis would’ve enjoyed putting on the trucks and trains.

samurai on July 16, 2011 at 10:34 am

Where are the pictures of muslim males 19 – 43 years of age being groped by TSA? I hope TSA stops this idiotic groping of the flying public in America soon. So far I have seen pictures of 2 grandmothers with health issues, 1 six year old girl and a wheelchair bound middle-aged woman in bras and panty being searched. All of these people are white. I have yet to see a picture or video of even one muslim male or female going through this crap. Why should non-muslims go through this abuse when 19 evil muslim men started this crap in the first place. I could endure getting a pat-down if I knew most or all muslim men and women received the same treatment but since they don’t, why should I be humiliated and mistreated?

Lady in Northern Virginia on July 16, 2011 at 4:11 pm

This is surreal. I was just starting to settle down from the little girl and granny TSA-groping and then this, while we don’t target muslims, all to “show” the world how non-bigoted we are, what, with our black president and all. Sickening.

DS_ROCKS! on July 16, 2011 at 4:16 pm

“I always thought Rumsfeld was brilliant.”

I will never forget the moment when Rumsfeld pointed his finger at a craggy Charlie Rose and asserted with absolute certitude:

“The vast majority of Muslims are moderate!”

That was one of the many epiphanies I had that made me realize this problem of the West persisting in its obtuse myopia of the dangers of Islam is not merely a “Leftist” or “liberal” problem, but a much broader civilizational problem, involving a paradigm shift in worldview which has occurred over the past half century or so (with historical roots going further back).

By now, most Conservatives are also Islamomyopic and issue and utter spasmodically unthinking defenses of Islam and of most Muslims.

Hesperado on July 16, 2011 at 4:22 pm

On the broader problem of security to protect ourselves from Muslims, here is an elementary adumbration of the problem:

1) Aiports, of course, aren’t the only places that need protection from Muslims.

2) As far as any public space goes, the more crowded and chaotic it is (like airports can be), the more difficult it is to protect.

3) There is a general principle involved here:

a) it is impossible to screen Everyone All the Time;

b) it is impossible in such a context to zero in with omniscience on those few who will be plotting an attack.

Thus, on a basic level, logic dictates some kind of policy somewhere between (a) and (b). This then brings up the science of profiling — which, of course, is an inexact science.

4) Problems with profiling reflect the problem of (a) and (b) in #3:

a) If we narrow and limit our profiling parameters too much, we risk endangering people, because of attackers who will slip through exploiting the narrow limitation of the profiling.

b) If we broaden our profiling parameters too much, we risk incompetence and a straining (if not a reckless mis-allocation) of time and resources, also giving opportunities to would-be attackers to exploit.

5) Concrete considerations: The problem we face is not an abstract general issue, but a specific concrete issue where over 95% of all terrorism around the world is perpetrated by Muslims. Given that, our profiling methodology should begin by profiling all Muslims. No methodology is perfect, and this one would suffer from the problem of determining who Muslims are. Nevertheless, it would be less imperfect than the one the West is employing currently, whereby in order anxiously to avoid the appearance of profiling Muslims, it institutes a random check which includes Donald Rumsfeld and a 95-year-old wheelchair-bound white woman.

Hesperado on July 16, 2011 at 4:38 pm

P.S.:

With regard to that 95-year-old wheelchair-bound woman: According to the logic of my preceding post, I would favor searching her completely (as they in fact did) — but ONLY if we determined that she was a Muslim.

We have seen too much of Muslim fanaticism and hatred of non-Muslims and the grotesquely and ghoulishly ultra-violent lengths it drives them to over the years (example: the Muslim man-and-wife who along with their baby were planning to bring a bottle of baby formula filled with explosives in order to mass-murder Infidels on a plane flying out of England); and thus it is not at all unreasonable to assume that an elderly Muslim woman in a wheelchair could be harboring a bomb or other weapon (chemical dispersal mechanism, whatever).

Hesperado on July 16, 2011 at 4:43 pm

But Debbie – Rummy is a white male. And a veteran. That makes two strikes against him. And guys like that (gasp!)tend to join militias.(Double gasp!) And then they get…. guns. Why would any American in his or her right mind want to arm him or her self today, when Eric Holder is protecting us? And we all **know** these militias are the greatest danger to America, 9/11 notwithstanding. Janet Napolitano has told us so.

cactusjack on July 16, 2011 at 10:46 pm

@samurai on July 16, 2011 at 10:34 am
I totally agree with your ‘lambs led to the slaughter’
‘er, ‘shearing’ comparison.
I hate standing in line anywhere, anytime. Haven’t been on a plane or to an airport in over twenty years and hope I never have to again.
This TSA screening thing is way beyond stupid.

theShadow on July 17, 2011 at 1:04 am

In our efforts not to hurt the ever so tender feelings of Muslims, we are forced to detain and search people who in no way pose a security threat. The net result of such sensitivity is wasting limited resources and rendering frontline security measures virtually useless. Of course, that is the Islamic objective in the first place. I am rather more concerned with a plane being taken down by a terrorist than a burka-babe bawling over having to reveal her mug to security and answer questions.

Worry01 on July 17, 2011 at 3:23 am

Wonder if the TSAers searched him for aspartame?? After all Rumsfeld is the man behind NutraSweet which CAN KILL YOU!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3rImXI6Wv4

Bob Porrazzo on July 17, 2011 at 8:27 am

Rumsfeld-Shramsfeld! I won’t blow up a plane too, so why do they search me???

Begletz on July 17, 2011 at 6:56 pm

The pic I’ve seen that Debbie showed with the TSA searching an old white woman while an arab man walks through the searches untouched is priceless. Just an abomination.

samurai on July 17, 2011 at 7:20 pm

these idiots detained joe foss a medal of honor winner because one of these geniuses though the medal was a weapon.duha! you are on flight 11,ask your self who would you rather have sitting beside you ted kennedy with his big mouth or me with my gun in my pocket?

bruce on July 18, 2011 at 1:04 pm

Mr. Rumsfeld looks to be in pretty good shape for an ‘old guy’.

P. Aaron on July 18, 2011 at 4:15 pm

He’s going for an airplane ride, not duck hunting.

burt on July 19, 2011 at 11:40 am

A Great American??? Rumsfeld???? Oh please give me a break Debbie. The way he botched the Iraq war is unforgivable. His policies were directly responsible for the deaths of many of our brave men and women. Deaths which could have been avoided. Have you forgotten how one soldier questioned him on providing “Hillbilly Armour” to the military? His errors will take decades to repair.

No one is questioning his patriotism, I am making a judgemnet on his actions and his incompetency. Hands down the worst defense secretary we ever had.

So him getting a little pat down by TSA is really not so bad.

Libertarian Liberty on July 19, 2011 at 11:53 am

sorry, he ain’t a great american. he sent our troops to battle without the necessary tools like, ohhh…armor. he sent them in in low numbers to do a war on the cheap. and i’m still waiting for them to find the wmds and the al quaeda connection with sadaam. he should have been given a full body cavity search since his brains are so far up his arse.

sacla on July 19, 2011 at 10:59 pm