BCT Editorial – 3/11/07

This page was last updated on March 11, 2007.

Guard duty; Editorial; Beaver County Times; March 11, 2007.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject editorial.

“The importance of having a Congress that performs its oversight duties over the executive branch was never more apparent than in the investigations into the scandal at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

“Carl Leubsdorf, Washington bureau chief of the Dallas Morning News, noted that in the recent past questions about the treatment the wounded were receiving as well as the total cost of the war and other war-related issued were ignored.

“‘Though some lawmakers have raised these issues, they have received little scrutiny until now, in part because of the reluctance of GOP-controlled Congresses to perform their normal oversight functions of the Bush administration,’ Leubsdorf wrote.

“Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein made the same point about the lack of congressional oversight over the last six years in their book ‘The Broken Branch: How Congress is Failing America and How to Get It Back on Track.’”

[RWC] Did you note the editorial didn’t tell us the political leanings of the aforementioned authors?

“No doubt some will argue that congressional Democrats are being overly aggressive and partisan.

“But another way to look at the matter is that they are merely reasserting oversight of the executive branch, a responsibility congressional Republicans abdicated during the first six years of the Bush administration.”

[RWC] What a load!

Let’s assume the editorial is correct about Republicans in Congress fulfilling their responsibilities. The editorial fails to assess any responsibility to Democrats.

Apparently the Times wants us to believe Democrats were gagged when they were in the minority. This would be hogwash. After all, Democrats managed to get the word out about the non-outing of Valerie Plame Wilson, pushed the “culture of corruption” message, “filibustered” judicial nominees, et cetera over the past three to four years. They also found time to hold hearings on miscellaneous issues far less important than the care of our veterans.

If Congress didn’t do its job in this case, both parties are at fault.