Donald Rumsfeld is out. Read about it here, here, and here. The Senate is now one seat shy of Democratic control. But, in spite of brilliant speculation by the likes of Andrew Sullivan, Bush did not replace Rumsfeld with Joe Lieberman so Connecticut's governor could appoint a Republican in his place and keep a lock on the Senate. That whole conspiracy is here. Rack another apology up for Mr. Sullivan. But who the hell is this Gates guy? Clearly he's a part of the Cracker Mafia from whose ranks Dubya freqently pulls. But let's get to know him.
• The man who is slated to become the 22nd U.S. Secretary of Defense was formerly the 22nd president of Texas A&M (from 1999-2001, he served as Interim Dean at the George Bush School of Public Service). Gates's stint in the Ivory Tower is the tail end of a career spent in military intelligence, having joined the CIA in 1966 as an entry-level employee and eventually rising to the agency's top slot in 1991 at the behest of George Bush 41.
Sources: here, here.