Democrats' Disgrace

Tony Blankley writes a terrific column for RealClearPolitics.com today, putting into perspective what the Democrats have been up to for the past few months.

He first illustrates how the tide of support for the war (on the side of the Democrats) has changed. His theory is that though Americans don't like what's gone down in Iraq, they hate losing even worse. That's the Democrats' biggest mistake, and they're now figuring it out. The evidence for the change is abundant: "The New York Times has suddenly started counseling caution about any immediate departure from Iraq. Sen. Obama's steroid-enhanced rhetoric now has him calling -- Rambo-like -- for possible preemptive war against Pakistan. Sen. Hillary Clinton announces that she might use nuclear weapons against terrorists. ... The Democratic Congressional leaders quickly passed President Bush's requested FISA electronic intercepts authority for the president."

More evidence of Democrat defeatism this spring and early summer: "Sen. Harry Reid said the war is lost, Gov. Richardson said that on his first day in the Oval Office he would order our troops to leave Iraq immediately (even if it meant throwing down their weapons on the way out), Hillary bragged that if Bush doesn't end the war, she would do so immediately upon her arriving in the Oval Office (God preserve us), Sen. Obama took pride of place in his adamantine opposition to, and immediate departure from, the Iraq war."

In short: "The Democrats, after spending the winter, spring and early summer frantically calling to get out of Iraq as fast as their little feet could carry them, are now, as autumn approaches, demonstrating their Olympic-class backpedaling skills."

Blankley calls on Republicans at all levels -- from the President "down to the dog-catcher" -- to engrave in the memories of the American public the cowardice and defeatism of these Democrats as the election rolls closer, and he asserts that these Democrats have disgraced themselves for a generation.

In the words of General Patton, "Americans love a winner and will not tolerate a loser."

Blankley's conclusion: "The public must not be permitted to forget these cowardly public statements by the Democrats. It is the job of the Republicans this fall and winter to remorselessly and repeatedly remind the public of what the Democrats were saying this spring. In that disgrace lies the potential for well deserved Democratic Party defeat next November."

I've said it before, but these mistakes are gifts for Republicans. Do they have the spine to reach out and claim it? We'll find out in a few months.

There's my two cents.