Why Obama Might Have a Jones Jones

Analysts were surprised to see the name of retired general James Jones on Barack Obama's vice-presidential shortlist yesterday, but Noam Scheiber, in the New Republic thinks he knows what the former NATO commander was doing there. Per Bob Woodward’s most recent book, Scheiber notes Jones was so put off by Donald Rumsfeld he refused to interview for the Joint Chiefs chairmanship.

Jones considered resigning to protest the management of the Iraq war, and told Gen. Peter Pace, who did get the JCS job, not to be a “parrot on the secretary’s shoulder.” He told several congressmen that the Chiefs had been “systematically emasculated” by Rumsfeld. Politico quickly pours cold water on the pick, though, noting that Jones and John McCain go way back. (More James Jones stories.)