Following up on an item from yesterday afternoon, the interest in Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s description of outgoing Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Gen. Peter Pace continues to far exceed its significance. There have been some developments, though, that shed additional light on what was, and wasn’t, said.
Greg Sargent obtained a recording of the relevant part of Reid’s conference call with bloggers. Here’s exactly what was said:
BLOGGER QUESTION: What’s the next step on Gonzales?
REID: Well, I guess the President, he’s gotten rid of Pace because he could not get confirmed here in the Senate. Pace is also a yes-man for the President. I told him to his face, I laid it out last time he came in to see me. I told him what an incompetent man I thought he was. But he got rid of his Joint Chiefs of Staff chair, but he still hangs on to this failed Attorney General. And I guess he’s gonna [inaudible]. We’re gonna keep focusing on it. Every day that goes by, it seems he keeps giving. Now we’ve learned that the immigration judges are all graduates of Regent University I guess.
Now, it’s not entirely clear from the transcript who Reid was referring to with “he.” After the “incompetent” sentence, Reid said “he got rid of his Joint Chiefs of Staff chair,” which is obviously a reference to the president. Indeed, Rick Perlstein makes the case that Reid’s criticism was directed at Bush, not Pace.
But even if we put that interpretation aside — I kind of doubt Reid told Bush to his face in a private meeting “what an incompetent man I thought he was” — this is a tempest in a teapot. As Greg explained, Reid’s comment “was in the context of a discussion of Alberto Gonzales and other administration incompetents, not Iraq. The reference to Pace was an aside — brought up solely to highlight Bush’s loyalty to Gonzales. Reid’s focus here wasn’t on Pace or the commanders.”
Quite right. But that hasn’t stopped the GOP Smear Machine to get into gear.
At yesterday’s White House press briefing, before any reporters even had a chance to ask any questions, Tony Snow brandished his pitchfork.
We are a little bit concerned about some reports on the Internet that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, in a conversation with liberal bloggers, had referred to General Pete Pace, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, as incompetent, and apparently, again according to the reports, had said disparaging things also about General David Petraeus. We certainly hope it’s not true, because in a time of war, for a leader of a party that says it supports the military, it seems outrageous to be issuing slanders toward the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and also the man who is responsible for the bulk of military operations in Iraq.
Indeed, Senator Reid has, at some point, declared the war lost, and also has declared the surge a failure, even though it has not yet been fully enacted. I don’t know if it’s true or not. If it is true, I certainly hope he does apologize.
“Slanders“? For goodness sakes, Reid questioned the competence of a man the president recently asked to step down from the Joint Chiefs. If that kind of rhetoric is “outrageous” and “slanderous,” perhaps we should draw up a list of harsher rhetoric from the Bush White House and demand a sweeping apology?
This is the quintessential manufactured pseudo-scandal. Reid’s comments were mild. Asked by reporters for clarification, Reid said, “General Peter Pace is a distinguished military veteran and public servant. Unfortunately, in my opinion, he was never as candid as he should have been about the conduct and progress of this war.”
Why is this even controversial?
And if Snow is right, and it’s unacceptable for a senator, “in a time of war,” to disparage “the man who is responsible for the bulk of military operations in Iraq,” why was the White House silent when John McCain blasted Gen. George Casey, citing “failed leadership,” questioning his “judgment,” and holding him responsible for a “failed policy”?
One gets the sense that Republicans are allowed to criticize generals and Democrats aren’t.