One of the main problems with the national Democratic Party is that many of its leaders act as if the electorate is overrun with children. Granted, voters often make poor choices and can behave like children, but we seem to be caught in a vicious cycle where politicians pander to the lowest common denominator, and the voters respond by refusing to fully engage themselves in the political process (why bother? The politicians only speak in platitudes and generalities anyway.
Case in point: the reaction of party strategists to recent comments by Nancy Pelosi, Howard Dean, and John Kerry regarding the war in Iraq. In reference to Bush’s handling of the Iraqi War, Dean likened the conflict to Vietnam, and he said "(The) idea that we're going to win the war in Iraq is an idea which is just plain wrong." This has predictably drawn the fire of the Republicans, who call the remarks unpatriotic, disrespectful to the troops, cowardly, and so on and so forth. More alarming is the reaction of some Democratic leaders, notably Joe Lieberman, who have distanced themselves from Dean’s criticisms by saying they’re not productive.
Likewise, John Kerry’s recent remarks on “Face The Nation” have been taken out of context and twisted by the Republicans. Answering questions by Bob Schieffer, Kerry said:
“...there is no reason, Bob, that young American soldiers need to be going into the homes of Iraqis in the dead of night, terrorizing kids and children, you know, women, breaking sort of the customs of the–of–the historical customs, religious customs. Whether you like it or not…Iraqis should be doing that. And after all of these two and a half years, with all of the talk of 210,000 people trained, there just is no excuse for not transferring more of that authority.”
The Rush Limbaughs and Bill O’Reillys have jumped on the remarks, contorting them to claim that Kerry said our soldiers are nothing more than terrorists. Anyone who saw the appearance or reads the interview (or has half a brain) realizes that Kerry was not likening U.S. troops to Osama Bin Laden or Yasser Arafat. But even some Democrats are nervously wondering aloud whether Kerry, Dean, and Pelosi are blowing opportunities for the Democrats to make gains right now.
The situation is maddening, because Dean and Kerry are merely voicing their opinions, speaking out on a botched war that the President seems unwilling and unable to correct. It’s not being defeatist to recognize incompetence in the war planning and execution, and it’s not unpatriotic to call the administration in it. And it’s really dangerous that talk show hosts (like the despicable Mike Barnicle in Boston) are making unfounded comments about Democrats being weak on defense, being defeatists, etc, repeating them over and over like a mantra, and shaping people’s opinions in almost subliminal ways.
The Democrats have to realize that it’s not only ok to stand up and criticize how the war is going, but it’s a show of strength and patriotism to do so. If the party at large had Dean and Kerry’s backs rather than getting all wishy-washy whenever they state “this war ain’t going well,” maybe we could get past the ridiculous notion that Democrats have no authority on national security issues. Republicans own national security--right up to the point where they get us stuck in a war with no exit, no plan, and nothing more than recycled strategies that didn't even work in Vietnam. It's time for the Dems to step it up....
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Posted by: tjqlycsdu sqthecrkg | October 04, 2007 at 11:35 PM