Crazy Talk

Every once in awhile, Rumsfeld reaches back and really reaches for the stars with some crazy, gunslinger talk. Today was one of those days.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Tuesday the world faces ''a new type of fascism'' and likened critics of the Bush administration's war strategy to those who tried to appease the Nazis in the 1930s.

In unusually explicit terms, Rumsfeld portrayed the administration's critics as suffering from ''moral or intellectual confusion'' about what threatens the nation's security. His remarks amounted to one of his most pointed defenses of President Bush' war policies and was among his toughest attacks on Bush's critics.

Speaking to several thousand veterans at the American Legion's national convention, Rumsfeld recited what he called the lessons of history, including the failure to confront Hitler. He quoted Winston Churchill as observing that trying to accommodate Hitler was ''a bit like feeding a crocodile, hoping it would eat you last.''

''I recount this history because once again we face similar challenges in efforts to confront the rising threat of a new type of fascism,'' he said.

I just love when he talks crazy.