RUMSFELD STEPPING DOWN WILL SPIN DEMS' WAY. Defense Sec. Donald Rumsfeld's resignation will spin very much to the Democrats advantage vis-a-vis the midterms. That is to say, all those talking heads on cable news saying that the Dems won on the strength of moderate and socially conservative candidates will not be able to spout that canard much longer. Clearly the Bush administration recognizes the midterm results as a rebuke of their Iraq War policy. The Democrats, even the relatively conservative ones who won in red states and districts, from Chris Carney in PA-10 to (presumably) Jim Webb in VA ran against the Iraq War. If Bush is drawing the appropriate lesson from the midterms (politically, if not in actual policy terms--that remains to be seen) then his lackeys like Barnes and Kristol and the "non-partisan" talking heads probably will have too as well.
--Ben Adler
