FrankWolfWatch

Congressman Wolf’s embrace of the Iraq Study Group, not only in its genesis but also in its result, is so complete that objective criticism of the ISG report is effectively criticism of Rep. Wolf’s approach to his responsibility as a legislator and his views on issues of importance to America.

As reported by the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Rep. Wolf evaluated the ISG report was laudatory:

They've done a good job. The administration is very open to it; the Congress is. . . . I think the recommendations are realistic. There's no politics connected to them. And when have you last seen 10 people -- senior people, people who have wisdom -- come together? Perhaps this is a model for resolving other tough issues.[1]

The Navy Times provides more insights regarding Rep. Wolf’s thinking on the ISG report:

Other efforts to review the situation in Iraq are ongoing, including an informal process headed by Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs.

But the Baker-Hamilton group’s recommendations are different, said Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., who spearheaded the Iraq Study Group effort this spring. The difference between this group and others is that it is more consensus-driven and has no members with any agendas inside the Beltway.

“It’s the only group that is truly bipartisan,” Wolf said outside the hearing room. “There are a lot of wise people there, nobody is looking for a new job … I think they are going to give it serious thought.” [2]

The first issue that comes through is Rep. Wolf’s advocacy of the Congress abdicating their responsibility to unaccountable bipartisan commissions.  It is a confession that Congress is broke, but instead of facing that fact and fixing that real problem, Congressman Wolf proposes ignoring the precedence of history in order to create a worse problem.  This evasion, ad hoc pragmatism, and failure is a consistent pattern of official behavior by Rep. Wolf.  Further, in the face of the failure of the ISG, our congressman continues to advocate such irresponsibility regarding entitlement reform.

The second issue is that Rep. Wolf is unprincipled.  The values he praises are consensus and bipartisanship.  In this specific case of post-war Iraq, both the Bush Administration and its Democratic critics are wrong, but somehow Rep. Wolf thinks that two wrongs can be made into a right.  For that to be logically consistent, Rep. Wolf must been seeking a value other than American victory such a political cover, which he did receive this past November.

Rep. Wolf frequently does a good job identifying problems and marshalling resources to confront those issues; however, his ideas cause him to pursue solutions that waste resources producing consistent failures as he avoids the real key issues of protecting individual rights.

[1] "Virginians React to War on Iraq," Richmond-Times Dispatch, 12/7/2006

[2] Gordon Lubold, “Study Group Calls for More Support of Iraqi Army,” Navy Times 12/6/2006

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