A Penguin in the Orchard

Tucker’s Bluster

Is it possible that a bow tie actually chokes the blood supply to the brain? Tucker Carlson is even less cogent than usual about the about the Jack Murtha story.

Why we can’t abandon Iraq immediately - The Situation with Tucker Carlson - MSNBC.com

Also, a small but I think significant complaint: In his speech today, Murtha attacked Dick Cheney as someone who received “five deferments” in Vietnam. This is true, but unfair. The implication is, if you didn’t serve, you’ve got no right to send others to die in battle; only war heroes get to make war policy. There’s an emotional appeal to this argument, but it doesn’t hold up if you think about it.

The implication here isn’t that “if you didn’t serve, you’ve got no right to send others to die in battle … “. The criticism is much more fundamental. If you rely on mililtary experts and militarily-experience politicians to publicly support your plan, you cannot simply dismiss them when they don’t. You can’t give them a voice then take it away when they disagree. And, in a circumstance as critical as war, their opinions and experience should be given more weight.

Dick Cheney did take five deferments. His lack of experience in the military has to be weighed with the real experience of these figures. Every strong leader in our history has relied heavily on the experience of experts in their fields to balance their own uninformed views. Only the weak have bulled forward against the advice of experts. No one is suggesting that he should completely cede that power to the military experts. But, he shouldn’t be in the business of marginalizing that experience when it differs from his opinions.

When public figures with military experience supported the war in Iraq (based, as we know, on lies), the Republicans touted those folks as heroes and visionaries. Murtha was among those supporters. The White House response to Murtha’s Thursday announcement was swift.

After Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.) called yesterday for a withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq, White House press secretary Scott McClellan accused him of endorsing “Michael Moore and the extreme liberal wing of the Democratic Party” and called his stance a “surrender to the terrorists.”

The Bush administration seems to believe that they weren’t elected to listen to the advice of experts. Though I certainly didn’t vote for them, I’d disagree. They were elected to make informed decisions based on the best experience of the best experts, especially in areas in which they have no experience. Dick Cheney’s deferments only become an issue when he ignores, then attempts to slander the unimpeachable reputation of a man who’s stood in the line of fire, simply for disagreeing with his own uninformed view.

If I may, I’d even suggest that the proper response would have been, “We respect the service to our country by Rep. Murtha. We’re forever in his debt. We disagree with his position.” Instead, the personal and institutional arrogance of the Bush administration forced a response that was at once divisive and unnecessarily aggressive - hardly the proper approach from a man who, by his own admission, felt he had “more important” things to do than serve in the military.