In the last week, Randy Kuhl has tried to feed the residents of the 29th a bunch of red herring.
The biggest fish on the menu was Kuhl's reaction to the Moveon.org ad. Kuhl's official statement about the MoveOn ad last week wasn't enough. This week, his new blog contains an entry lauding Petraeus as "A True American Hero" and criticizing Democrats who wouldn't attack MoveOn.
While I agree that the MoveOn ad was clumsy and stupid, it's worth noting that Kuhl's site contains twice as much comment on that ad than on Petraeus' statement itself. Kuhl issued one short statement on the President's address last week. As part of his misdirection strategy, Kuhl would have us pay more attention to one ad in the New York Times than an entire war.
The second fish that Kuhl wants us to swallow is that Congress is moving too slow, and not attending to important issues. That's true, of course, as it has been for decades. Kuhl issued another press release that argues that Congress is full of "good ideas gone bad". He singles out S-CHIP, Earmark Reform and Immigration as three good ideas that have been ruined by Congress. He presents nothing really new on S-CHIP, and I've dealt with his anti-S-CHIP talking points on Medicare and taxes and illegal immigration in previous posts. As for Earmark Reform, perhaps it doesn't go far enough, but the simple fact is that we know for the first time who inserted earmarks in specific bills, as the earmark page here shows.
The final stinking old fish that Kuhl is peddling concerns immigration. New York has begun to license illegal immigrants as drivers. Kuhl's reaction is to point out that the 9/11 hijackers had drivers' licenses. However, as Rochesterturning notes, the hijackers were in the country legally. Also, it's a pretty cheap shot for Randy to criticize New York State for simply dealing with a reality: illegal immigrants are going to drive. The twenty-year failure of our federal immigration policy has led New York to this point, and Kuhl knows it.
The Republicans in general, and Kuhl in particular, are desperate to divert attention from the unpopular war in Iraq. Nobody wants to talk about the war 24/7, but Kuhl's attempt to divert is as transparent as it is unpalatable. He needs to stop with the fish and serve up some beef.