Kuhl meets with the D&C Ed Board
And makes somewhat of an ass of himself (I almost said “predictably” but he usually does okay in the town halls I’ve seen). He joked about impeaching Spitzer. Here’s some more:
- “He also said that most of the protesters were not from the district but that he offered to meet them at a later time.”
- “He made it clear that he isn’t the strong Bush supporter many think he is.”
On the first point, don’t give me that “out of town trouble makers” stuff. The people who protested at the Fairport office were from Pittsford and Fairport. He knows this, since they’re the same people who come to all of his town hall meetings.
On the second point, voting records don’t lie: Kuhl voted with Bush 85 percent of the time in the last Congress. Do I think he actually agrees with Bush on most issues? Who knows? And it doesn’t matter, what matters is votes.
I will get bashed in the comments for saying this, but Kuhl also said we should negotiate with Syria and I commend him for this. I also commend him for his generally non-confrontational approach with protesters and the like.
I may also get bashed in the comments for saying this, but I do think that the D&C does a good job of interviewing local politicians. Here’s hoping they don’t give Walsh a free pass for his support of Bush. It’s easy to be tough with Randy — he doesn’t garner much respect in general — but the true test of toughness is how they deal with the wriggly Walsh.
Are YOU KIDDING ME! From the 2nd article:
3. Protesters
Kuhl said that he wasn’t at his offices when the protesters in Bath and Fairport were there. When I asked him if he had ever protested, he said “Yes, when I walked off the floor in Congress recently.” I asked if that means he thinks the protesters have a right to do so and he again said “yes, just not over the line.” He said that the types of protests have caused him to rethink security at his offices and that means securing doors. He said they are “more protective now” and that he “thought about packing.”
PACKING! A sitting member of Congress just said that he thinks it might be a good idea to have guns around in case non violent protesters return to his office!
Why not? If it’s good enough for his wife, it’s good enough for his constituents…
ouch!
Normally, I’d tell you that kind of comment is inappropriate but I think it’s warranted here. Once you start talking about carrying a gun to ward off protesters, it’s pretty tough not to think of other gun-related incidents.
[...] way to deal with peace protesters than with a gun?ÂÂ I wonder if that offer to meet with them “at a later time” is really a [...]
Ah Exile.
Bashed in the comments eh….
Well - Kuhl also once said at a town hall meeting that freedom was on the march in the middle east. Citing elections in Egypt (where at the time the opposition party needed permission to run for office from the rullng party), the mess that is Lebanon and Libyan disarmament of a nuke program they probably didn’t have..
Notice how he deflected that the war started before he got to Congress (true) but every vote to continue the war in Iraq increased his ownership of the issue. Every time he repeated GOP talking points like I mentioned above he increased his ownership of the issue.
Negotiate with Syria? Both Syria and Saudi Arabia are primary Sunni based. Iran is Shiite. The Kurds are w/o a country of their own. Any negotiation with Syria needs balance with Iran. Can ‘t give too much to the kurds otherwise we break up our ally Turkey.
But negotiation is different that stay the course which is what we are doing now and to what effect? Check out Juan Cole’s take on how the surge is doing. A little different that Kuhl’s happy stories - oh more talking points.