Feeling Their Oats
Democrats launched a counterattack after President Bush warned them to “watch what they say or risk giving “comfort to our adversaries” and suffering at the ballot box in November.”
The AP’s Jennifer Loven uses the manipulative AP-Ipsos polling that I’ve cited before as ‘proof’ that Republicans are vulnerable. If only I had a dollar for each time I’ve read an article that used the oft-discredite AP-Ipsos poll as the cornerstone to the article, I’d be a wealthy man. It’s inevitable, though, that the AP’s reporters will use it repeatedly, as inevitable as death, taxes and Ted Kennedy sounding like an idiot.
Without specifically mentioning Democrats, the president urged campaigning politicians to “conduct this debate responsibly.” He said he welcomed “honest critics” who question the way the war is being conducted and the “loyal opposition” that points out what is wrong with his administration’s approach. But he termed irresponsible the “partisan critics who claim that we acted in Iraq because of oil or because of Israel or because we misled the American people,” as well as “defeatists who refuse to see that anything is right.”
This is a totally fair admonition and characterization. Defeatists like John Murtha and Nancy Pelosi argue solely to score political points. It isn’t because they think they’re right. For them to think that they’re right, they’d have to ignore all the positive facts reported from Iraq. Not even Pelosi and Murtha are that ignorant.
As for President Bush “lying us into war”, that’s now been debunked by James Risen, the NY Times reporter that broke the story on the NSA wiretapping. In his book, Risen reportedly says that then-DCI George Tenet had proof of there not being WMD’s in Iraq and not passing that onto President Bush. Based on that, I’d say that the President couldn’t have lied us into war, as Joe Wilson has repeatedly said.
Democrats said Bush has no business trying to define what sort of talk is acceptable. “Patriotic Americans will continue to ask the tough questions because our brave men and women in Iraq, their families and the American people deserve to know that their leaders are being held accountable,” said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, (D-NV).
Asking tough questions is one thing. Mischaracterizing events and policies like Howard Dean and Ted Kennedy and John Murtha have done is totally irresponsible and should be immediately rejected by the American voter.
I’m thinking of Kennedy’s statement that “Iraq is George Bush’s Vietnam”. I’m thinking of Murtha’s saying that American soldiers were “living hand to mouth” and being down in the dumps because of the President’s Iraq policy. I’m thinking of Howard Dean’s outlandish statement on KOAI-AM in San Antonio that we can’t win the war in Iraq.
Those are exactly the type of statements that President Bush defined as out-of-bounds and irresponsible and rightly so.
Cross-posted at LetFreedomRing