Donald Rumsfeld Asked to Step Down

Editor and Publisher is reporting that Gannet Corporation’s four military newspapers will be carrying an editorial on election eve calling for Donald Rumsfeld’s resignation as U.S. Secretary of Defense. The publications are the Army Times, Air Force Times, Navy Times and Marine Corps Times. The no-confidence vote of these four influential military publications, widely distributed among members of the armed forces and their families, is unprecedented and a serious blow to Rumsfeld’s reputation and that of the Bush administration among members of the uniformed services.

Media experts note that these newspapers would not be taking this dramatic step unless they felt their readership had lost confidence in the Bush administration’s leadership and would be supportive of a massive shakeup of the administration at the highest levels.

In recent years, members of the armed forces and their families have tilted significantly toward Republicans in their voting patterns. A loss of confidence by members of the armed forces in the Bush Administration’s ability to provide direction in the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the battle against terrorists in the eastern part of Pakistan, is likely to upset this electoral pattern and could signal a return to the military’s more traditional status of favoring neither party.