Kuhl opinion piece in the D&C today
Fighting29th has a good post about Kuhl’s Op-Ed in today’s D&C. Kuhl writes:
Before adjourning for the August recess, the House passed a bill (H.R. 3159) mandating that soldiers be given a specified amount of time between deployments. This legislation would allow Congress to undercut our troop strength and commanders’ decision-making capacity. I did not vote for this bill because Congress should not micromanage our troops on the ground. This is a job for our commanders.
Rotten takes the piece apart in detail, but I think this piece is ridiculous on an even more basic level: all this talk about “micromanaging” and “our commanders” is utter and complete nonsense. Rumsfeld micromanaged the war, firing commanders who dared to tell him the truth about necessary troop levels for years, and Kuhl never said a peep.
Kuhl’s vote against H R 3159 was another case of a cowardly Congressman rubberstamping The Decider’s wrong-headed ideas. That’s all there is to it.
I recommend reading Rotten’s entire post to see just how mendacious, dishonest, and just plain stupid Kuhl’s piece is. Randy Kuhl ought to be ashamed of himself for having written it. I’ve said before that Kuhl is neither dumb nor dishonest as a Congressman. His opinion piece today, however, is both dumb and dishonorable.
I have to wonder whom Kuhl thinks this piece will appeal to, other than the 25 percenters who still believe that Dear Leader Bush will lead us to a magical victory over the forces of darkness. Yes, those 25 percenters are probably a majority on the Democrat and Chronicle blogs but they’re certainly not a majority in NY-29.
Thanks for the link. I agree that there’s a pot/kettle aspect to the “micromanaging” charge. In addition, what’s really infuriating to me is the constant use of arguments that lessen the role of Congress as a co-equal branch of government, and the eagerness which Republican congressmen embrace this line of thinking.
The bill in question is management at the level where Congress is supposed to be managing: the level of general recruitment and retention policy. Congress is supposed to exercise oversight over the Military, but Kuhl is so eager to follow his party’s line that he’s willing to denigrate the legitimate exercise of the power of his branch of government in service of a political aim.
Micromanaging would be saying that the military needs X thousand troops in this province of Iraq from July 1 through Sept 30, and they are to eat lobster on Thursday for dinner.
What Congress attempted to do by setting limits on how quickly troops could be sent back to Congress is not micromanaging. It is making changes to a big picture, not to the details of the picture. That is MACROmanaging, which as Rotten points out is perfectly legitimate for Congress to do.
Among the many things that Rethuglicans have destroyed is the meaning of the words in our language.
Macromanaging. Great clarification/comment.
Messenger Post papers this week are running an editorial called “Looking for leadership on the Iraq war”. In the Gates-Chili edition, Kuhl is pictured and mentioned. MP states that Kuhl over reacted to the war protesters.
It thrills me that the MP paper is questioning the leadership of Kuhl.
I’ve read a few comments by Kuhl’s reps and they keep changing what the “context” was. First it was 9/11, then it was urban violence, and now it is gun control. Then the reps say it was “a joke.” Why would he be joking about 9/11, urban violence or gun control?
Their damage / spin control was comically bad. The story got too hot, too fast.