Congressional Moron Puts Troops' Lives At Risk

As you may have heard, Representative Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich) is in a bit of hot water right now. The Congressman, who is the ranking minority member of the House Intelligence Committee, posted a number of updates to his Twitter page while in Baghdad recently.

The Congressman's motivation? Apparently, his constituents' need to know outweighs mundane concerns like operational security:

The spokesman, Dave Yonkman, added: "He believes in giving people in West Michigan as much access as possible, and posting on Twitter allows him to provide real-time insight into the sights and sounds of his congressional activities."

The Congressional Twitt has gone on to attempt to evade responsibility by using a defense that he probably first learned on the playground: "But, Mommy, they're doing it, too!":

Rep. Pete Hoekstra says he did nothing wrong. He pointed to announcements by other high-ranking officials, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, which list the countries they plan to visit.

Of course, when Members of Congress give press conferences from the combat zone, they don't typically provide minute-by-minute details about where they are, and what they're doing. I can't recall of an instance when I've seen a report in the press that includes lines like:

Just landed in Baghdad.

or:

Spelling mistakes. Sorry but riding in poor light, bouncing around,speed not accuracy.

The Congressman was clearly riding around Iraq with his thumbs disengaged from his brain. If you want proof of that, you need look no farther than this:

Hoekstra said he has "no idea" whether his military escorts knew he was updating his Twitter page and was never asked to stop.

And there's the critical difference between Hoekstra's moronitude and prior press conferences from Iraq. When a Congresscritter gives a press conference in Iraq, the people who are putting their lives on the line to provide protection know what's going on and can plan accordingly. When they don't know that you're broadcasting your movements to the world, they can't, and the risk to you and them increases.

Frankly, Congressman, if you want to increase the risk to yourself, I could give a damn. But our troops face enough risks out there without you adding to them through sheer, inexcusable stupidity. They deserve an apology. Right now, the most you've offered is an excuse.