Dedicated to the proposition that Nancy Boyda is a one termer.

Wednesday, August 1, 2007

Mercury on Boyda

The Manhattan Mercury took Nancy Boyda to task for her actions using terms like "rude" "insulting" and "foolish." I agree.

Here's the entire editorial:

One Would Have Expected More

U.S. Rep. Nancy Boyda can choose to believe whatever and whomever she wants, whether the subject is the war in Iraq or the benefits of ethanol.

But Rep. Boyda, who represents Manhattan as part of Kansas ' 2nd Congressional District, cannot walk out on congressional testimony she finds dubious and then have her chief of staff say Rep. Boyda left "to kind of compose herself because she's understandably frustrated with the way the war's going."

That's unacceptable.

It's also rude to dismiss as untrue or unimportant the testimony before the House Armed Services committee Friday of a retired general, in this case Gen. Jack Keane. Gen. Keane had testified about progress in Iraq after the troop surge. He said security improvements were widespread in and around Baghdad and asserted that U.S. forces "are on the offensive and we have the momentum."

Given the conflicting reports about the war and conditions in Iraq , one would expect skeptical committee members to seek verification of such claims, to ask pointed questions when necessary and get to the truth. And even though such hearings have too often served as soapboxes for lawmakers with their own agendas, one certainly would expect Rep. Boyda to listen respectfully and give the general his due regardless of her own views on the war.

Moreover, one would expect her to remember that she represents a district that includes three military installations, and that publicly insulting a general — even a retired general — reaches beyond rude to the realm of foolish. One would expect Rep. Boyda, who's already been attacked by the Republican she ousted, Jim Ryun, and by the National Republican Congressional Committee, to realize that they would exploit such a mistake for everything it is worth. Surely she knows that as a freshman Democrat in a Republican state, she's a prime political target.

One would further expect Rep. Boyda to know better than to try to explain her departure from the hearing by saying, "There was only so much that you could take until we in fact had to leave the room for a while."

That's what recesses are for.

In short, one would have expected more of Rep. Boyda. Hopefully that isn't expecting too much.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why is it if this blog says something that remotely hits Lynn Jenkins, it sets off a flurry of comments, but when they are talking about how bad Nancy Boyda is, no one has anything to say?

Anonymous said...

Because everyone who comes to this blog agrees about Boyda. They just come to read that agree and move on. The potential bias in favor of Lynn Jenkins' primary opponent is not what this blog purports to be and that is controversial to most of the people who come here.

Anonymous said...

Potential bias . . . Lynn Jenkins campaign has gone negative against Jim Ryun. I'd hope this blog would point that out. If Ryun's campaign goes negative against Jenkins, I'd hope they'd take him to task for it.

Reporting about the Club for Growth attacks against Jenkins is newsworthy. If a group attacks Ryun with an ad, I'd hope this blog would put that up.

Unless they fail to do so here, there's no bias in my book.

Anonymous said...

personally, i think the Mercury went a little overboard...

Anonymous said...

What's the deal about Boyda's position on ethanol?

Anonymous said...

personally, I didn't think the Mercury went far enough...

Anonymous said...

overboard? you can't be serious. this is no way for a member of Congress from Kansas to act. Maybe from San Francisco or NYC, but not someone who pretends to be "independent."

Anonymous said...

From some of the stories that come out of Boyda's office, her little snit in committee was about the best she can do, wisdom and dignity wise.

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