Disregarding flat reversal, conflicting explanations, O'Donnell called Bush move to replace Rumsfeld "decisive"

Summary: Despite the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld coming less than a week after President Bush pledged to keep Rumsfeld on until the end of his presidency, MSNBC's Norah O'Donnell opined: "This president, whether you love him or hate him, is decisive."

During a discussion on the November 8 edition of MSNBC Live about President Bush's announcement that Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld was resigning, MSNBC chief Washington correspondent Norah O'Donnell opined: "This president, whether you love him or hate him, is decisive." But as Media Matters for America noted, Bush's remarks came less than a week after he pledged to keep Rumsfeld on as defense secretary until the end of his presidency and told the Associated Press that both Rumsfeld and Vice President Dick Cheney are "are doing fantastic jobs and I strongly support them." When asked about the dramatic reversal by a reporter at the press conference, Bush claimed that he had said Rumsfeld was staying on because he "didn't want to inject a major decision about this war in the final days of a campaign," and later asserted that at the time of the November 2 press conference in which he expressed his support for Rumsfeld, he hadn't yet decided to replace Rumsfeld because he had not yet met with his eventual replacement, former CIA director Robert Gates.

Later, while addressing the timing of the announcement, O'Donnell said: "I do think that this president would not fire the secretary of defense days before an election because it would look like his only motivation is political." O'Donnell added that Bush "recognizes the consequences of his policy and I don't think he would do something as political before an election, while it nevertheless became known that there was a sentiment in this country that something had to be done." As Media Matters has noted, there are numerous instances in which the administration has reportedly timed events or made policy decisions in Iraq based on political considerations.

From the 2 p.m. ET hour of the November 8 edition of MSNBC News Live:

O'DONNELL: This president, whether you love him or hate him, is decisive -- and he moved forward and was apparently led by his new White House chief of staff, [Joshua] Bolten, to make this decision. From our reporting at NBC News, what we know is that of course this decision to get rid of Secretary Rumsfeld at least was discussed within the last couple days before the election, that there was a disagreement between the political people and Josh Bolten, who is the White House chief of staff and Vice President Cheney, who wanted Rumsfeld to stay. That decision was then put off until after the election and then, lo and behold, what happened today. But it appears, once again, I think, the whole subtext, the important subtext of today, not only that Rumsfeld is gone and this may mean a new change in Iraq, but what this means is that Vice President Cheney, who apparently for the past several years of the Iraq war, has been the one person that has convinced the president -

PAT BUCHANAN (MSNBC political analyst): Right.

JOE SCARBOROUGH (MSNBC host): I -- I was going to say --

O'DONNELL: -- to keep Secretary Rumsfeld, is no longer in the -- is no longer in the confidence of the president on this matter.

[...]

O'DONNELL: I do think that this president would not have fired the secretary of defense days before an election because it would look like his only motivation is political. And I do think the president is concerned about execution.

I think this president recognizes that there are 140,000 men and women in Iraq. He has met personally with many of the families of members of people who've died. He visits Walter Reed [Hospital]. I think he recognizes the consequences of his policy and I don't think that he would do something as political before an election, while it nevertheless became known that there was a sentiment in this country that something had to be done. And so, I just -- while this White House is very political -- I just don't think that the president would've thrown him overboard just to win more votes in the House and Senate.

—R.D.