I caught this a few hours ago on FOX (again, I’m watching just to see the squawkboxes squirm), and I must say, Bush’s press conference concerning Rummy’s resignation taught me a few interesting things. One is that Bush is a terrible backpeddler. Recall that last week he said Rummy was staying on board until he left office. Now, check this exchange:

Q Mr. President, thank you. Can I just start by asking you to clarify, sir, if, in your meeting with Steve and Terry and Dick, did you know at that point –

THE PRESIDENT: I did not.

Q — you would be making a change on Secretary Rumsfeld?

THE PRESIDENT: No, I did not. And the reason I didn’t know is because I hadn’t visited with his replacement — potential replacement.

Q But you knew he would be leaving, just not who would replace him?

THE PRESIDENT: No, I didn’t know that at the time.

Q Okay. May I ask you about Nancy Pelosi –

THE PRESIDENT: The other thing I did know, as well, is that that kind of question, a wise question by a seasoned reporter, is the kind of thing that causes one to either inject major military decisions at the end of a campaign, or not. And I have made the decision that I wasn’t going to be talking about hypothetical troop levels or changes in command structure coming down the stretch.

His defense is both that he didn’t want to affect the election and he didn’t know Rumsfeld was leaving. Now this should throw a pretty obvious question into your head: how did he not only decide Rumsfeld had to go but decide on a replacement all at once, and announce it the day after the election? That this was a backburner idea waiting to see if the Democrats took over should be obvious.

The second would be his “didn’t meet with the replacement” thing. That’s completely illogical because if you haven’t decided Rumsfeld is leaving, then there’s no need to look for a replacement. He said it backwards.

The third is that he didn’t want to affect an election. On this point we’re just seeing Bush’s complete refusal to acknowledge reality. The Iraq War is unpopular. Voters are bitter. Rumsfeld is the poster boy of the problems. Did it not occur to him that ejecting Rumsfeld before the election could actually help?

Think about it. The republicans are going down with the ship. They’re losing in great part due to pessimism over the war. If the president said “hey, we need a new direction and a fresh face,” then that could certainly help the republicans keep hold of the moderates. After all, if the complaint is that we need a new direction, what better message than “why change parties? We’re acknowledging problems and changing them!”

Once again, ol’ Bushie’s blockheadedness has screwed his party over, and this time it’s going to trickle over to him.