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Thursday, December 15, 2005
Answering a rhetorical question
Powerline puzzles hard over the press treatment of John Kline's latest ruminations:
Col. Kline brings to his Congressional duties a rare knowledge of military affairs and ability to assess conditions on the ground. He recently returned from his third trip to Iraq, this time as a member of the House’s Armed Services Committee. I had a long talk with him last week, and recorded our conversation so I could quote him accurately. I asked John how this trip compared with his prior visits...
As a professional soldier who has seen with his own eyes the progress that is being made in Iraq, John is convinced that the critics are dead wrong:
The good news story is just shamefully lost where you get somebody like John Murtha saying, we’re not making any progress, and you get someone like Howard Dean saying we can’t win. What is that possibly based on? Because all information on the ground in Iraq refutes that.
How can it be that the press fawns over every pronouncement from Jack Murtha, while studiously ignoring the observations and opinions of the far more experienced and better-informed John Kline? Well, that was a rhetorical question, of course.
If the national press doesn't print a lot of Kline quotes, here's one answer: John 'Lockstep' Kline doesn't say anything interesting. In fact, you'd be hard-pressed to find him saying anything that the President hasn't already said. I guess I could call the Strib and have them add a "Me, too" quote from Kline to every Bush quote, but I think we're better off with the implied version we already have. There's a second answer, too: John Kline has been wrong before about his reports from the ground in Iraq. Here's Kline from September 21, 2004:
Kline, a former Marine, told of testimony he heard from soldiers who had been stationed in Iraq. He said that although news reports feature bad news about the country, soldiers told the House Armed Services Committee, of which Kline is a member, that most Iraqis see them as liberators, not occupiers.
How's that been working out for you?
More interesting to me, though, is the psychotic disconnect that yields the idea that John Kline is "far more experienced" than Jack Murtha. John Kline has an impressive background and a long service record. Jack Murtha served as Marine in the Korean War, was a drill instructor, rose to the rank of captain, stayed in the Marine Reserves until 1966, returned to active duty and served with distinction in Vietnam. He remained in the Marine Reserves until he retired as a colonel in 1990.
Both men have served their county with distinction over many years. At Power Line, however, they either don't know or don't respect Jack Murtha's service to our country.
