Reid: Pace is Incompetent
In an ironic turn of events, Harry Reid called General Peter Pace incompetent during a conference call with some leading progressive bloggers. The Politico reported about this yesterday already, but the bloggers involved all said they did not remember Reid saying this. So, I decided to wait for more information.
We’ve got it: Reid, indeed, called Pace incompetent. The defense of those involved is now that one should look at the context in which it was said. When I look at the context I can still only conclude one thing: Reid called Pace a “yes-man” and “incompetent.”
It was a confidential conference, so most bloggers didn’t tape it. One seemingly did. From the transcript:
REID: Look what this Justice Department has done. And now, with the Surgeon General, we have a man here who has written articles that I think are a little questionable as to in our modern society. He’s a medical doctor. And don’t worry, he’s gonna be looked at very closely.
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.
REID AIDE: Guys, I think we have time to take one more question…
What’s funny is that certain progressive bloggers accused The Politico of making up news. BarbinMD participated in the conference and says that (s)he does not remember Reid calling Pace incompetent. Nor did one of the other participents remember anything like it.
Strange - such a remark, I’m sure you would remember it. Seems to me that these bloggers have assimilated quite well in the beltway.
“I don’t recall.”
I have to say that, when reading Bob Woodward’s State of Denial there is one thing one learns about Pace: He is a fine General. He is a fine serviceman. But he is, perhaps, a bit too weak for the job he currently has. He should have fought back against Rumsfeld.
Of course, there is a difference between not fighting back hard enough and being ‘incompetent.’ And there is also a big difference between some blogger at Daily Kos calling Pace incompetent and the Senate majority leader doing so.
Incompetent is a very harsh word.
I realize you’re putting your criticism of Reid mildly, but I have to ask: What’s the difference between not fighting back hard enough and being incompetent?
Pace may be a fine serviceman–in fact I’m sure he is. But I also read State of Denial, and from what I remember, Rumsfeld hired Pace specifically because Pace wouldn’t fight back.
Pace wasn’t up to the job.
In all the complaints about Reid’s harshness, no one is defending the job Pace has done.
George, I think that most people know what I think of the job Pace has done. I’m a critic of the post-war period. They made tremendous mistakes on all levels: political and military.
Well, the difference is of course, between calling someone, the entire person, bad, or saying someone handled a specific thing badly. And yeah, words do matter. When you’re in Reid’s position, it’s better to say what I said than what he said, no?
Do you think there would be such a debate about it if Reid would have said “he should fought back against Rumsfeld more”?
As I said, Reid’s language was harsh. But who, among those complaining about it, is defending Pace’s competence?
Does anyone else think a “confidential conference” between party leaders (Democratic OR Republican) and bloggers is unseemly? It smacks of collusion. A party leader will “grant” access to bloggers who in turn are epected to present a certain line. If that were not the case why should it be deemed “confidential”? I always sort of thought it was stuff exactly like this that has led to folks distrusting the MSM. Are these blogs speaking for themselves, or are they extensions of the DNC (or the RNC)?
I they are not speaking as independant actors they are committing a fraud against their readership.
mvdg, The way I see this, is Reid was being honest. They asked him a question, and he told them what he said to Pace himself. Why I don’t know since the question was about Gonzales.
I have to say, I’m not really a fan of Reid, but at the same time I think he does the right thing here. He told the truth. Had Pace come out and said, Reid said I was incompetent, and Reid denied it (lied) how would you feel? He called it as he saw it, not something we see often enough in my opinion.
This is the job of our elected officials, to take those to task who they have placed their (and our) trust in. Our Pres doesn’t do that. He pats folks on the back even though they have made grand mistakes.
The take on Pace I’d like to see is from Military guys now in congress/Senate seats. Maybe someone like Webb who doesn’t seem to pull many punches.
As far as the bloggers go not reporting it, can’t say I blame them really. If they were preparing their own questions and/or jotting down notes they could have easily missed that.
If this is the worst thing the Right leaning bloggers and Tony Snow have, a Dem leader calling it as he sees it, and having the guts to tell Pace to his face how he felt, I really don’t have much faith in them.
Reid should come out and categorically state, yes I called him a yes man and incompetent, the facts on the ground in Iraq speak for themselves.
It seems that Reid himself has a bit of a memory problem too. From WaPo today http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/14/AR2007061402093.html :
Umh Christine? He said that Patraeus was NOT incompetent, but Pace was.
“I told him what an incompetent man I thought he was” is about Pace not Patraeus.
OK, my bad…
I misread because the beginning of the paragraph concerned his comments about Pace.
When I read the piece mvdg quoted it I interpret it to be a conversation with Bush, unless Pace has an Attorney General. So did he call Pace or Bush incompetent?
As I - and bloggers who participated in the conference and the one who got the tape - interprete it, he called Pace, not Bush, incompetent.