No Offence to ‘Rabid Chihuahuas’
14 June 2007 9:47 am by Taylor Marsh
No Offence to ‘Rabid Chihuahuas’ updated & bumped
General Peter Pace has been slammed by Majority Leader Senator Harry Reid, according to a post on Politico.com today. Pace was summarily fired recently after extolling Libby’s virtues in a letter, truly a silly thing
on which to waste such a long military career. Reid reportedly went after the general
in a blogger conference call earlier this week.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid called Marine Gen. Peter Pace, the outgoing
chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, “incompetent” during an interview
Tuesday with a group of liberal bloggers, a comment that was never reported.
… ..
The story in Politico.com has the wingnuts in an uproar. The following snippet from a Hugh Hewitt post comes complete with a picture of Pace’s medals, as well as
the much lauded Dennis Miller tirade against Reid that is just another notch
on the comedian’s belt these days, which has helped resurrect a career since Miller moved decidedly right. Fox “News” channel is now Miller’s champion. Hey,
good for him. It’s nice to have a posse, especially when it comes with the added benefit of helping you pay the mortgage.
It’s also interesting to note that Reid made these charges during a
conference call with the progressive blogging community which has recently
turned on him like a pack of rabid Chihuahuas. Even tough (sic) they’re
foaming at their little mouths, they recognized this comment as such rank
stupidity that they apparently closed ranks and didn’t report it. The
comment only saw the light of day thanks to a report this morning in the Politico.
… ..
I’ve got no reason to doubt the story, as it seems obvious that the quotes are emphasizing it
came from Reid, but the senator has also had plenty of stories written about
him that were false. I’ve asked, because I wasn’t on the call. No answer, so I assume it’s correct.
But as far as his “leadership” on Iraq, no one should be surprised
that we find ourselves in the position we do today. It was clear after the
interview Reid did with Charlie Rose that his respect for the Senate traditionalism
far outweighed any serious move Congress has stop the war in Iraq, i.e., halting
the funding. People ignored the warning
and foreshadowing of things to come on Iraq. It’s one reason I find Reid’s statement
as quoted in McJoan’s
post recently disingenuous in the extreme.
Reid acknowledged the role the blogs have played in driving the Iraq debate
in a press conference following the call, and also noted that leadership made
mistakes in the supplemental fight.“I understand their disappointment,” Reid said. “We raised
the bar too high.”
Disappointment? Raised the bar too high? More like furious
at Reid’s refusal to use all the powers of Congress to do what the American
people charged Democrats with in November. But after the interview with Rose,
I knew where this was headed and everyone else should have as well. It’s the
biggest reason the approval rating of Congress is lower than Bush’s, and why
people are so infuriated with Democrats right now and for good reson. So what
if you go down? The fight would have been worth it. Besides, Reid’s going down
anyway now, because with his remark against Pace all that senatorial sacrifice
made on the altar of keeping the right-wing at bay over Memorial Day has been
shot. Reid’s getting tarred with the brush of not supporting the troops anyway.
So what was all of this pre Memorial Day supplemental posturing about anyway?
There is no doubt that General Pace’s comments on homosexuality were insulting
and inappropriate. That a military man of Pace’s stature would write a letter
for Scooter Libby boggles the mind. That Pace’s political veins are showing is an understatement and highly inappropriate, but that’s where we are in the era of Bush.
However, General Pace is the wrong target
and Reid should know better, because you never win when you attack the soldier, especially when you’re trying to change the direction of a war. The civilian pukes in the White House concocted
this disaster. George W. Bush and every single politician
who supports the current strategy in Iraq are the incompetent ones. Reid missed by a mile with this slap at Pace. That Reid’s approval is at 19%, down
in Deadeye Dick land, should tell you all the rest you need to know.
UPDATE: During my radio show, Greg Sargent posted on this brouhaha. Please read it and decide for yourself. However, Reid’s office has still not responded to my request for confirmation or clarification. This last paragraph in Sargent’s post says a lot by what it doesn’t say. To be clear, no one is talking about General Petraeus.
In a Q and A with reporters today, Reid sidestepped questions about what he’d said about Pace, and outright denied that he thought Petraeus was incompetent, saying he held him in “high regard.”
Also wanted to add, for those of you who listen to my radio show, here’s the TalkLeft post I was talking about.
