Wanted: RepKuhlSpeak Translator
Finally…. after carrying signs in front of my Congressman’s office, signing countless petitions, watching him throw my comrades in jail and sending tons of e-mails through MoveOn aimed at getting him to change his position on the war in Iraq, I finally got a response.
Yup… I got a letter from Randy Kuhl himself.
The trouble is I can’t figure out what he’s saying, so I’m copying the text for you, my loyal and disloyal readers alike, to help me decipher.
Dear Mr. Coats,
Thank you for contacting me with your support for redeploying our troops from Iraq. I appreciate hearing your views on this important national security issue.
I understand your concerns about continuing our military campaign in Iraq, and I firmly believe that the Iraqis need to ensure a swift, expeditious establishment of a political framework for their country. I am glad that we will be able to begin redeploying some of our troops this year, as the troop surge has shown signs of success, but achieving political reconciliation must be the Iraqi government’s top priority.
In the coming months, I plan to support efforts to help the Iraqis reach a political solution that meets the needs of the country’s various ethnic and sectarian groups and allows our troops to return home as quickly and as safely as possible. Thanks again for contacting me about this issue and please keep me informed of your views as we move through the fall.
Sincerely,
John R. Kuhl, Jr.
This is as great an example of politicianspeak as I have ever heard, and I’m really not clear about what he’s saying. Of course he’s no different from any other politician (except Howard Dean and pre-2008 campaign John McCain) in terms of not addressing an issue squarely.
I think what he’s saying is that, despite our having blown their country to smithereens, the Iraqis have to get their shit together before we can bring our troops home. And God only knows when that’ll be.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but it sounds like he’s STILL saying
Filed under: General Observations on October 10th, 2007
Wow I clicked the link, read the letter, and then my mind almost exploded when I tried to get the gist of his discussion. There were so many contradictions and misdirections - words without meaning. I suppose this is how they (politicians) communicate (inneffectively).
Oh thats not hard to read at all it says, “suck my nuts, they’ll come home when its to my (bush’s) political advantage.” Its not that he wants the troops to die, its just that he doesn’t care. I hate this war.
I can think of one more politician who will honesty answer questions, he even goes so far as the answer the question that you asked!
His name is Eric Massa.
Cut and paste talking points. Same old “they stand up, we stand down” rhetoric.
The issue here being too much diversity, and yes, that can be a bad thing. Pre-British Iraq was three seperate countries. Take out the cohesive strongman and the natural divisions reform. There will never be reconcilliation between all the many factions struggling for power. The best anyone can hope for is a division of the country, or another strongman goverment to hold it all together. Although, I hear the Turks might be removing one faction.
My only issue with the three country plan is that we can’t keep chopping up the world so that every group gets its own country. The former Yugoslavia being the prime example. It was one country with many groups, now its a ton of little countries with no world influence that still probably hate each other they just can’t afford to fight. How far do we take this? should we have given the Hatfields and the McCoys each their own country? Is genocide only acceptable under the noble flag of war?
I understand that it might be the only peaceable solution, but we need some new options. People need to learn to tolerate, which doesn’t mean they have to like each other, just not hate each other. I don’t know how we will ever achieve this so long as we have dogmatic religions telling their followers that they are right and everyone else is wrong and must be converted. I cannot foresee peace in a religious world, unless Buddhism takes over. Damn Dali Lama really throws a kink in my views of religion, Granola you didn’t happen to get to see him in Ithaca did you? I heard it was fantastic. If you didn’t then sorry for rubbing it in. I didn’t get to either.
I gotta run, Peace!
He was in Ithaca? Dammit.