OC Hangs Its Head In Shame

Loretta Sanchez, who defeated B-1 Bob Dornan for her House seat by banking on her Hispanic maiden name much more than any credible ability, disgraced OC's conservative Republican roots today with questioning and grandstanding during the Petraeus/Crocker hearings.

It was embarrassing to hear her read her questions, stumbling over words most of us had pretty well nailed by 9th grade and worse, being condescending to Ambassador Crocker and insulting to Gen. Petraeus, who are both actually taking risks and doing something for their country.

She was asking a convoluted three-tier question based on a poll she identified only as a BBC poll which showed (natch) that Iraqis are fed up with the war and with us:

Sanchez: So how concerned are you that this apparent decine ... decline in public confidence is happening due to [the perception among Iraqis that we will have a long-term military presence in Iraq] and how do we address it? Is it a public relations problem or is there a substance .. tive ... strategy issue that we have to face? And I'll start with the Ambassador?

Crocker: Thank you very much Congresswoman. No, I have not seen this particular poll. As you know, there are a lot of polls out there, and to see the least, I think that polling in Iraq now is a fairly inexact science, which is not to call into question this particular poll. I simply don't know. I know that I have seen other

Sanchez: (Interrupting) It's an BBC/ABC poll. They usually know how to conduct surveys quite well, I would say.

Crocker: Yeah, they

Sanchez: (Interrupting) I certainly find that they know how to count better than most of our generals count in Iraq, and Gen. Petraeus will know what I mean by that.

Would some Loretta flunky please tell the Congresswoman that the counting that goes on in polls is delegated to the junior intern from Downriver State? It's the designing of the poll that requires real smarts ... and with BBC/ABC, real bias. But what does Sanchez know about smarts?

What Sanchez obviously does know very well is that the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, long the home of the Marine 3rd Aircraft Wing, was closed in 1999. Were the base, located just a few miles south of her district, still open, I doubt very much if Sanchez would feel comfortable bitch-slapping our generals, especially Gen. Petraeus.

After all, there were about 7,500 Marines on El Toro at its peak, and while they might not have thought much of the Army, I'm sure they would have been ready to defend Gen. Petraeus with a hoo-rah or two.