Taegan Goddard explains some of the background behind the kiss-and-tell memoir of the moment:
If you’re wondering why Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld comes out unscathed in Matt Latimer’s just released tell-all, Speech-less, his old Bush White House boss explains in the Wall Street Journal that it’s because he’s currently working for Rumsfeld as a ghost writer on his memoirs.
Writes William McGurn: “Not that Mr. Rumsfeld need fear. If this book is any guide, an employer will read how stupid Matt really thought he was only after he’s no longer being paid.”
There’s another possible explanation, of course: Rumsfeld probably knew perfectly well that Latimer was busy slagging the White House in a book of his own and was cheering him on while he did it. Rumsfeld is likely still pissed off at the way he was treated by Bush, which means that Latimer’s behavior toward their old boss might have been a feature, not a bug.
