Rumsfeld Dodges a Bullet

WASHINGTON, Sept. 6, 2006 — -- In the end, Senate Democrats didn't get the vote they hoped for. But they still got what they wanted -- a fiery debate on Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's tenure that dominated most of the afternoon.

The Democrats framed their resolution -- offered as an amendment to the defense appropriations bill -- as a broad call to change course in Iraq. The key line: "One indication of a change of course would be to replace the current secretary of defense."

The measure was ultimately scuttled with a procedural move, but not before senators on both sides of the aisle spent several hours debating it.

"I'm not looking to pick a fight with Secretary Rumsfeld or the president," Minority Leader Harry Reid said. "But it's about making America as safe as we can and should be. Secretary Rumsfeld's failed track record is well documented."

Republicans called the move a partisan stunt.

"I can think of no one who has worked harder as secretary of defense than Donald Rumsfeld," said Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, who later moved to dismiss the amendment. "This man deserves the support of the Senate. He does not deserve this opposition, I'm sad to say ... on a purely political basis."

Still, Republicans were quick to counterattack, using the debate as another opportunity to cast Democrats as weak on defense.

"If my Democrat colleagues spent half the time helping us fight this war on terror as they do attacking the administration, we'd be a lot closer to winning," said Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C.

Since the measure would have been nonbinding -- a "sense of the Senate" only -- Republicans argued it was meaningless, even were it to come to a vote. Congress cannot fire Cabinet secretaries, who serve at the pleasure of the president.

But Democrats cast it as an important symbolic move, in line with Congress' oversight responsibility.

Privately, many Democrats hoped the measure would, at the very least, put Republicans who face tight races in a difficult spot.