First, the Great Republican Wurlitzer is in full swing this morning and the talking heads have their talking points down pat....to wit:
A non-binding resolution against escalation EMBOLDENS our enemies...and this beauty from Mitch(I never met a special interest I didn't like) McConnel :
To show his loyalty, Mitch said:
I think everybody knows what the consequences are. The president doesn't have a stronger supporter in the Senate than the person you're looking at, but I repeat, this is the last chance for the Iraqis to step up and demonstrate this government can function," he said. "The message to the Iraqi government could not be more clear."
but if that praise wasn't effusive enough, he had to add:
paraphrased: The War on Terror has been a resounding success. I consider it absolutely amzaing that we haven't been attacked again in five years.
Ahhhh....I love the smell of wingnuttery in the morning....it smells,....STUPID!
Second I found the effusive praise of Joe Biden this morning to be inappropriate. He was being cheered on by some discussion boards for his comment that "dissent doesn't embolden our enemies, our failed policy emboldens our enemies."
on edit: here's the actual quote courtesy of Talking Points Memo
"It's not the American people or the U.S. Congress who are emboldening the enemy. It's the failed policy of this president going to war without a strategy, going to war prematurely."
And to that I have to say:
WHOA! WAIT A MINUTE!
Somehow or another I can't envision Osama Bin Laden dancing around in his cave saying, "oboyoboyoboy....they've got a failing policy!" What I do see is Osama (and most recently his followers) dancing around saying "I told you so."
What do I mean by that?
I mean that the one thing that gives strength to the Radical Islamic Fundamentalists who successfully planned and executed the attack on the twin towers on 9/11, it is to have their cause validated.
AQ and the rest of the fundy crazies who want to blow up anything Western, Jewish, American or the real jackpot...United States Jewish Pop Culture....believe that we Americans have imperialistic aims on the Middle East (primarily because of their oil?) and we wish to impose upon them our style of democracy, our style of society, and our CHRISTIANITY.
At the beginning of all this...I would have disputed every point made above but now I'm not so sure.
And even as I write this, people all over the middle east see American troops occupying Iraq. They see a government in Iraq styled and ruled by an edict from the Coalition Provisional Authourity (CPA ) and they see Christian Soldiers killing Muslims every day. And don't think for one minute that the current sabre rattling over Iran hasn't been heard by 1 billion muslims across the world.
All that above is shown as "proof" that America must be defeated and the longer we occupy Iraq; the more we try to impose our will on the middle east, the more we will embolden the enemy.....
The point needs to be made clearly and not obfuscated by cheap political rhetoric like we got out of Biden this morning.
I'll be back to edit and expand later....
