Forsee Says His Big Factual Problems Are Beside The Point... Huh?

I really don't understand this argument from UM System President Gary Forsee (also articulated last week by Rep. Chris Kelly):

[Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry] Waxman’s rebuttal was "in some ways" beside the point, Forsee said Monday. His letter was intended to convey the message that a cash-strapped public university system would be hard pressed to handle new unfunded energy mandates — whatever the costs...

For all the fuss his letter stirred up, Forsee may have partly accomplished his goal. The university system now has Waxman’s written assurance that its power plant in Columbia isn’t a “covered entity” under the legislation. That sounds a lot like the exemption Forsee was seeking.

The factual problems with his letter are not beside the point.  Unless I'm missing something, Forsee didn't secure an exemption with his letter – the exemption existed all along, and he just didn't know what he was talking about.

Imagine Forsee wrote a letter to Congress expressing concern about the Martians living in his brain.  If he's politely informed that there aren't actually Martians inside his skull, his letter would not be hailed as an "incredible success" -– it would still have been a silly letter. 

I think Dan Hooley, MU professor and chairman of the Environmental Affairs and Sustainability Committee, has a more reasonable response to Forsee's letter:

The confusion over the facts of the bill is a “little embarrassing,” said Dan Hooley,... "We’ve been wrangling with an issue we didn’t quite understand. We need to really get our facts straight and get the details of the bill fully under control before making any statement about opposing or supporting the legislation."

Whatever the current spin, Forsee's letter was not just about expressing basic budgetary concerns – it was about aiding the effort to persuade Missouri's Congressional delegation to vote against the clean energy legislation.  Bonus points are not awarded because it was a ham-handed effort.