Nothing like beating an old, but very much alive, war horse to make political points.

Tuesday was press conference day for Democratic House candidate Peter Welch, who used the opportunity to once again call on President George W. Bush to fire Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

"Rumsfeld's leadership has been characterized by continued poor judgment, stubborn arrogance and a refusal to listed to the sound advise of our best and most respected military commanders," Welch said Tuesday.

This will be at least the third time Welch has used a press event to publicly demand that Rummy vacate his corner office at the Pentagon, but who's counting. Well, we are, actually. Welch said he was moved to repeat his stand on Rumsfeld after the secretary implied in a speech last week that Iraq war opponents weren't much different than the appeasers of fascism and Nazism in the run-up to WW II in the 1930s.

Asked whether he'd push for impeachment of the prez if Bush doesn't retire Rummy, Welch demurred. He said getting Congress bogged down in impeachment proceedings would divert attention away from fixing the war policy.

Besides, if Bush were impeached, the nation could end up with Vice President Dick Cheney in the White House and "Cheney's worse than Bush," Welch said.

-- Sam Hemingway