GOP campaigns - start getting your ads together.

Harry Reid has confirmed that he was indeed attacking Gen. Peter Pace in the Politico story.

Nice try at narrative control by the nutosphere, but they failed. As we've always maintained, if you lie down with nutroots, you're gonna say and do stupid things to please them.

And Harry Reid indeed has said and done a stupid thing here to please the Nutroots. His own Macacca moment? Probably not (the media won't give it any play like they did to the Macaccagate), but definitely embarrassing and well below the expected conduct of a member of the "austere" US Senate. Certainly not below the conduct of a modern Democrat, however.

Harry Reid wouldn't know the difference between a corporal and a lance corporal, but he knows Gen Pace is "incompetent." Bad news, Senator. The public trusts the military far more than they trust you pampered morons sitting on your fat as*es declaring the war lost in the comfort of your air-conditioned offices in the DemCongress.

If you want to see how they try to obfuscate, slither out of, and deny their involvement with this demagoguery after being forced to admit they were wrong, read down a few posts at TPM. The conceding post reads thus:

Okay, we've obtained a tape of the controversial Reid conference call with liberal bloggers.

Yes, he did in fact say that Pace is "incompetent." But the context shows that the controversy's way overblown. Take a look.

Did he say it, Greg? Yes. Did he say it to liberal bloggers? Yes. You and your horde spent your day trying to refute it and to deny it, and the truth hit you square on your noggin. See Insty for the "plausible deniability" exercise put on by the members of the conference call. In true Clintonista fashion, they all play the "I don't remember/recall/have knowledge/see it in my notes" card, but don't outright deny it because they likely knew what the truth was. They were there.

But remember, people. It was the "nuance" of the remark that matters. It was the "context." From liberal talker Taylor Marsh:

Calling a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff "incompetent" is anything but unremarkable.

Trust me when I say we're going to be eating this for a very long time. Next our presidential candidates will be asked if they agree with Senator Reid's assessment of General Pace. Insert your favorite question about this nightmare here.

There is yet another aspect of this event. How did Politico.com get even the partial quote? That's yet another troubling aspect of this sorry situation.

Remember this incident the next time the Nutosphere tries to jump all over any right-blogger or right-politician for making a snafu - the "context" is what's most important. Which means (to them) that they may agree with what he said but regret that anyone outside of their little cabal heard it.

Addendum: DaveC in the comments points out that I clumsily worded a passage above when I said that Reid attacked "the Troops" as opposed to General Pace. He was, upon reflection, right about that, and I have amended said offending passage. I would also point out, however, that this is the second time this week that Reid has attacked military members - the other day, he preemptively declared an effort that hasn't even fully been implemented 'a failure.' I consider that an attack on the troops engaged in the surge effort, since he told them they failed before they even did anything. So I will make no apology to Reid on this basis. He's on a hot streak this week, so to speak.

Posted by: Good Lt. at 07:36 AM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
Post contains 670 words, total size 5 kb.

1 Good article. Thanks!                   USA, all the way!

Posted by: Michael Weaver at June 15, 2007 01:06 AM (2OHpj)

2 I don't know the difference between a corporal and a lance corporal, but if there is a corporal out there with a lance, I wish he'd jam it into Harry Reid's face.

Posted by: Rome at June 15, 2007 01:10 AM (/GrlO)

3 I'm no fan of Harry Reid but isn't it disingenuous to label an attack on the military leadership as: "Harry Reid has confirmed that he was indeed attacking the Troops in the Politico story."?
there is obviously quite a difference in attacking the top brass vs. attacking 'troops' ? please correct me if I'm wrong.

Posted by: davec at June 15, 2007 10:02 AM (kcDpP)

4 davec-

Noted and amended.

However, couple "the surge has failed" before it has even been fully implemented (saying that the troops are failing at what they're commissioned to do before they've even done anything) with lambasting General Peter Pace (a patriot and tireless defender of the country, and a Marine corp leader) as "incompetent," and you have the makings of attacking not just the brass, but also the boots on the ground.

In the particular instance of Gen. Pace, you're point is well taken.

Posted by: Good Lt at June 15, 2007 10:12 AM (yMbfY)

5 Agreed, Reid is a huge Weasel who is playing politics with the current situation in Iraq to further the agenda of force withdrawal.

Posted by: davec at June 15, 2007 09:53 PM (kcDpP)

6 The troops depend on good leadership. Criticism of a general! Whats the third reich coming to? How's that surge working out BTW? What was the objective of that again? Seems to me that the generals should stop playing politics and focus on the situation in Iraq and the politicians should be playing politics. I appreciate a politician who will say what needs to be said.  "I don't remember", "We never said that" and  "Let me check my notes" hey, thats classic republican speak these days. Then there is the spineless silence when we have to look at what this Iraq "strategy" is costing us and what the payoff may be. Why didn't the republicans want to spend the extra money on the extra armor for humvees? body armor? increased veterans benefits? extra training, health care for national guard dependents? How can you justify not giving someone in Iraq combat pay? (watch Cspan, you might get more nasty stuff than trolling some blog site) You can glad talk all you want but there are facts about what is happening and the people in the U.S. have a right to know what they are. And BTW yes you are misquoting Reid a bit aren't you? Though it makes little difference. He is not happy with the performance of Pace or Petraeus and neither are the American people. It would be spineless not to demand some accountability from them.

Posted by: philip at June 15, 2007 11:54 PM (eA6sJ)

7 philip:
I think it's distasteful to make fun of mentally challenged people so i'll just say this:

1. "The Surge" with the full amount of troops only has begun this weekend.

2. Is there some magic armor that protects Humvee's against 500lb roadside bombs? they are not adding more Humvee armor now -- they're looking to replace them with mine-proof vehicles.

Posted by: davec at June 16, 2007 12:14 PM (kcDpP)

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