Today's Rochester Democrat and Chronicle has a story and an editorial based on Randy Kuhl's editorial board visit yesterday. The story details Kuhl's plan to increase security at his offices in the wake of Monday's sit-ins. The editorial is so tepid that I can't even discern the real point of it: sit-ins might be bad? but maybe not?
Anyway, one interesting part of the Kuhl story is the low bar he sets for the Petraeus report due next month:
I have talked to some of my colleagues and we have said, 'You know, if it's not going well in September and it doesn't look like there is any movement whatsoever, that's probably it,' he said.
We're close to saying, 'That's it.' We give it our last chance and if it doesn't work, I'm not locked to staying there forever.
Most observers think that the Petraeus report will indicate some tactical progress due to the surge, but it's clear that there has been little strategic progress toward the ultimate goal of a self-sufficient Iraqi government (probably strategic regression, considering the recent Sunni walkout). Kuhl's answer seems to indicate that any progress will be judged as acceptable progress.
Update: In today's Messenger-Post, Kuhl says that the protesters were "out of towners...many of whom had rap sheets."
Comments
Petraeus will say whatever Bush tells him to day. I'm not even sure that he's wrong to do this, given that Bush is his commander.
What's wrong is Bush hiding behind Petraeus and people like Kuhl falling for it.
This whole Petraeus worship thing disturbs me very greatly.
I agree that the "listen to the generals" rhetoric is strange. The president should be setting strategy and then having his generals implement it. He should be relieving generals who fail to execute his strategy. Instead there's this charade that the person in charge is controlled by those who serve him.
It's just weak leadership, pure and simple. Maybe what's disturbing about the Petraeus worship is that it elevates him beyond his proper role as someone working for the civilian commander-in-chief.
Roosevelt and Truman relieved generals left and right, including, in the case of Truman, MacArthur. There's nothing sacred about a general, and a lot of good peacetime generals aren't very good at war, and vice-versa (notable example: Patton). Wars should entail the relief of a number of generals if they're prosecuted correctly. Bush hasn't relieved any.
I think the "packing heat" phrase will come back to haunt him, people will think "packing heat" in reference to Krazy Randy Kuhl, who alledgedly threatened his wife with 2 shotguns, now wants to "pack heat" to defend himself from protesters. Very sane.
He just thinks he can't be beat. He's that arrogant.
remember, "out of towner" is also code for "people not living in the southern tier", in order to help rally the base in the southern tier to vote one of their own in.
I actually don't think he's arrogant or he wouldn't hold all those townhall meetings.
I agree about "out of towner". I wonder if people in the tier reserve some special contempt for people from Ithaca.
I would imagine that out-of-towners with a rap sheet are people who have been arrested before in anti-war protests. This points out a flaw in the sit-in tactic: it apparently doesn't attract the grassroots in the 29th. I would think that smart activists would adjust their tactics to what works in the district. Why be so formulaic?
Kuhl's townhall meetings are evidently characterized by a glaring lack of openness, there isn't any engagement with his constituents at all!
He states at the outset that he won't take questions! In my view it's ludicrous to call them town hall meetings...More like window dressing.
Trees, there is some back-and-forth at his meetings. It depends on the topic and the location. But, yes, there are some questions he won't answer.
The Overhyping of David Petraeus.
Army of One
http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=20070806&s=bacevich080607
An interesting read from the centrist mag "The New Republic"
That's a pretty good article. Here's a non-subscriber link:
http://mparent7777-2.blogspot.com/2007/08/overhyping-of-david-petraeus.html
Another article by the same author: "I lost my son in a war I oppose"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/25/AR200705...