Sorry, Rummy, but if you wanna crash QOTD, you'll have to do better than that sorry collection of warmed-over Rummyisms (save 'em for your trial)

photo by Doug Miles for the New York Times—click on it to enlarge

Well, the doody is hitting the fan, as we knew it would.

There was limited but intense support at this morning's Quote of the Day meeting for some of the "gems" delivered yesterday by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in his grudging appearance before the Senate Armed Services Committee--you know, the one where Sen. Hillary Clinton gave him such a hard time, and later said, "I think President Bush should ask for Secretary Rumsfeld's resignation."

[In the photo above, along with Rummy and Senator Clinton, we see Sen. Ted Kennedy and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Peter Pace, who also testified. General Pace tried to put a brave face on what's going on in Iraq, but couldn't quite get around, well, what's going on in Iraq.]

Certainly Rummy thought he was bringing his "A" material. And you've got to love it when he delivers the kind of hokey old verbal shtick nobody's tried to get away with since the late Henny Youngman: "I have never painted a rosy picture," he said to Senator Clinton. "I've been very measured in my words, and you'd have a dickens of a time trying to find instances where I've been excessively optimistic." (Stop, Rummy, you're killing us!)

For sheer nuttiness, it would be hard to top that weird business about Spain and Muslims: “If we left Iraq prematurely, the enemy would tell us to leave Afghanistan and then withdraw from the Middle East. And if we left the Middle East, they’d order us and all those who don’t share their militant ideology to leave what they call the occupied Muslim lands from Spain to the Philippines.”

And for sure, he fooled the kids over at the New York Times editorial board, who took the extraordinary step of slapping Rummy and his administration pals around for their committee testimony in a next-day lead editorial, "The Sound of One Domino Falling." ("Americans who once expected the Pentagon to win the war in Iraq have now been reduced to waiting for an indication that at least someone is minding the store. They won’t be comforted to hear Mr. Rumsfeld fretting about protecting Spain from Muslim occupation.")

Still, here at DWTQOTD, our standards are a little higher. To us, it was just another day-on-the-job of Rummy doing his thing, being Rummy. We know when we're being set up. If Rummy wants to crack QOTD, he's just going to have to do better. Like maybe the lights darken, and Rummy morphs into Satan, brandishing a deck of cards. The stunned crowd goes silent, and he croaks: "I am Beelzebub, prince of darkness. Pick a card, any card." Now, that's entertainment.

We have an idea what Rummy was really up to yesterday, though. Heck, isn't it obvious? Clearly, he's laying the groundwork for an insanity defense at his trial.

We just want it on the record now: When it comes time for him to make his statement at his sentencing hearing, if he wants to crash QOTD, he's going to have to do better than those warmed-over Rummyisms.