[Punisher454]

Politicians get a lot of soldiers killed with stupid policies regarding rules of engagement and being armed/disarmed when not in direct combat.
I have no problem with the believability of most of the commanders following the presidents orders so faithfully that they allowed their Battlestars to get blindsided. But i also have no problem with the idea that during the battle some were able to get some vipers launched and at least put up some form of a fight.
Although the Cylons were victorious at Cimtar they probably likely suffered heavy losses. This wopuld help explain why the Galactica had time to gather survivors at the colonies while the Cylons regrouped after the initial attack.