One of the unseen costs of Tom Daschle using up all of America's car services is that ordinary war-mongering political has-beens are forced to fend for themselves at street corners, waiting for buses. That's the situation that ex-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld found himself in Monday, in a report from Roll Call's Emily Heil and Elizabeth Brotherton. (Roll Call's story is behind a pay-firewall. You can read John Byrne's witty retelling on Raw Story here.)
Basically, Rumsfeld was in Dupont Circle, attempting to catch the 42 bus, and all this happened:
With his SmarTrip card in hand -- the DC metro's rechargeable fare card -- Rumsfeld "stood quietly" waiting for the bus.
"It was almost like the guy at the first day of work," Heil and Brotherton's source remarked. "He was looking at the card, thinking, 'How does this work?'"
The bus eventually came but "was too packed to pick up any more passengers," the reporters wrote.
At least Rumsfeld was in possession of a SmarTrip card, clear and convincing evidence that he did not receive his public transportation intelligence from celebrated pinhead Douglas Feith.
Unable to board the bus, Rumsfeld took it on the arches. As Roll Call's source details, "He made it down the hill just fine...He didn't fall or anything."
So there you have it! Donald Rumsfeld, a man for whom reports of being able to walk must be corroborated by witnesses.