Vegas
08-07-2007, 12:04 PM
http://ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=271292275324186
Politics And War: Abandoning all pretense, some Democrats now admit good news from Iraq is bad news for them. It's not that they're claiming the war is lost anymore. It's bad news for their party if we win it.
When Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid raised the white flag and proclaimed the war in Iraq to be lost, we were appalled that a major U.S. political leader would so render aid and comfort to the enemy by calling the young Americans whom they allegedly support a bunch of losers who were risking their lives for nothing.
Now the surrender monkeys of the Democratic Party are starting to fess up and admit that they simply don't think it's in their selfish political interest for the U.S. to emerge a winner in Iraq.
If you have good news, they don't want to hear it. Reid, Pelosi, Murtha et al. want to hear no progress, see no progress, speak no progress.
A spokesman for Pelosi admitted as much by saying Democratic leaders are "not willing to concede there are positive things to point to" in Iraq.
They are like gamblers who don't want their team to score if it ruins the point spread. The Democrats don't want us to win if it ruins their chances in 2008.
Not willing to concede that there is good news from Iraq, Rep. Nancy Boyda, a Kansas Democrat, got up and walked out at a recent hearing of the Armed Service Committee when retired Gen. Jack Keane said that "progress is being made" by the good guys, American and Iraqi.
Using the imperial pronoun, Ms. Boyda said that "there was only so much (good news) that you could take until we, in fact, had to leave the room for a while . . . after so much of the frustration of having to listen to what we listened to."
You know, things like this from Gen. Keane: "We are on the offensive and we have the momentum."
We have come to know how frustrating it can be for a Democrat to hear that we just might be winning in Iraq.
Boyda's concern was that the rest of the country might hear it, too. She expressed concern that Gen. Keane's remarks "will, in fact, show up in the media and further divide this country." Too late.
As we've noted, Brookings Institution scholars Michael O'Hanlon and Kenneth Pollack wrote about the progress there in their New York Times piece, "A War We Just Might Win."
The Times had editorially proclaimed the war lost shortly before they wrote, "Here is the important thing Americans need to understand: We are finally getting somewhere in Iraq, at least in military terms."
In other words, the surge is working. And the American people are hearing the good news. A New York Times-CBS News poll released July 24 showed 42% felt military action in Iraq was the right thing to do, up from 35% in May. So distressed by the "counterintuitive" result were Times editors that they ordered the poll retaken. Same result.
The desperation felt by Democrats that we might be winning in Iraq was expressed by the No. 3 Democrat in the House, Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C. Clyburn recently observed that a positive September report from surge architect Gen. David Petraeus could lead to as many as 47 "Blue Dog" Democrats to oppose a withdrawal timetable. Clyburn said that such good news would be "a real big problem for us."
Earth to Clyburn — losing in Iraq would be a big problem for America and the civilized world.
Politics And War: Abandoning all pretense, some Democrats now admit good news from Iraq is bad news for them. It's not that they're claiming the war is lost anymore. It's bad news for their party if we win it.
When Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid raised the white flag and proclaimed the war in Iraq to be lost, we were appalled that a major U.S. political leader would so render aid and comfort to the enemy by calling the young Americans whom they allegedly support a bunch of losers who were risking their lives for nothing.
Now the surrender monkeys of the Democratic Party are starting to fess up and admit that they simply don't think it's in their selfish political interest for the U.S. to emerge a winner in Iraq.
If you have good news, they don't want to hear it. Reid, Pelosi, Murtha et al. want to hear no progress, see no progress, speak no progress.
A spokesman for Pelosi admitted as much by saying Democratic leaders are "not willing to concede there are positive things to point to" in Iraq.
They are like gamblers who don't want their team to score if it ruins the point spread. The Democrats don't want us to win if it ruins their chances in 2008.
Not willing to concede that there is good news from Iraq, Rep. Nancy Boyda, a Kansas Democrat, got up and walked out at a recent hearing of the Armed Service Committee when retired Gen. Jack Keane said that "progress is being made" by the good guys, American and Iraqi.
Using the imperial pronoun, Ms. Boyda said that "there was only so much (good news) that you could take until we, in fact, had to leave the room for a while . . . after so much of the frustration of having to listen to what we listened to."
You know, things like this from Gen. Keane: "We are on the offensive and we have the momentum."
We have come to know how frustrating it can be for a Democrat to hear that we just might be winning in Iraq.
Boyda's concern was that the rest of the country might hear it, too. She expressed concern that Gen. Keane's remarks "will, in fact, show up in the media and further divide this country." Too late.
As we've noted, Brookings Institution scholars Michael O'Hanlon and Kenneth Pollack wrote about the progress there in their New York Times piece, "A War We Just Might Win."
The Times had editorially proclaimed the war lost shortly before they wrote, "Here is the important thing Americans need to understand: We are finally getting somewhere in Iraq, at least in military terms."
In other words, the surge is working. And the American people are hearing the good news. A New York Times-CBS News poll released July 24 showed 42% felt military action in Iraq was the right thing to do, up from 35% in May. So distressed by the "counterintuitive" result were Times editors that they ordered the poll retaken. Same result.
The desperation felt by Democrats that we might be winning in Iraq was expressed by the No. 3 Democrat in the House, Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C. Clyburn recently observed that a positive September report from surge architect Gen. David Petraeus could lead to as many as 47 "Blue Dog" Democrats to oppose a withdrawal timetable. Clyburn said that such good news would be "a real big problem for us."
Earth to Clyburn — losing in Iraq would be a big problem for America and the civilized world.