Spittin' Mad

I just sat down after work to peruse a few news items and catch up a little...it only took about 5 minutes for me to reach the point of fury. FIRST, I see this:

Former president Bill Clinton praised Saddam Hussein's lieutenants and their underlings on Tuesday, saying they were mostly "good" and "decent" people."

"When [the U.S.] kicked out Saddam, they decided to dismantle the whole authority structure," Clinton told an audience at American University in Dubai. "Most of the people who were part of that structure were good, decent people who were making the best out of a very bad situation," he added.

WHAT THE *#*q???? "Good and decent people?" Hussein's henchmen? Is he out of his friggin' mind? Perhaps he OD'd on Viagra or something, what else could explain such a stupid statement?

While Clinton didn't name, names, Saddam's authority structure was dominated by his two murderous sons, Uday and Qusay, as well as notorious characters like Ali Hassan al-Majid, [aka Chemical Ali], Barzan al-Takriti, who ran the Iraq's brutal intelligence service, Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, who governed northern Iraq during chemical weapon attacks in the Kurds, and Huda Salih Mahdi Ammash [aka Mrs. Anthrax], who was a member of Saddam's Baathist National Command.

Yeah, good decent people there. What a total IDIOT.

THEN, I see this:

An influential House Democrat who voted for the Iraq war called Thursday for the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, another sign of growing unease in Congress about the conflict.

"It is time for a change in direction," said Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., one of Congress' most hawkish Democrats. "Our military is suffering, the future of our country is at risk. We cannot continue on the present course. It is evident that continued military action in Iraq is not in the best interests of the United States of America, the Iraqi people or the Persian Gulf region."

Cut and run. Surrender. Turn Iraq back over to the terrorists, let them kill more innocent people, start the torture rooms up again, start fillin' up those mass graves again.

ARRGGH!!

Vice President Dick Cheney jumped into the fray Wednesday by assailing Democrats who contend the Bush administration manipulated intelligence on Iraq, calling their criticism "one of the most dishonest and reprehensible charges ever aired in this city."

Murtha, a Marine intelligence officer in Vietnam, angrily shot back at Cheney: "I like guys who've never been there that criticize us who've been there. I like that. I like guys who got five deferments and never been there and send people to war, and then don't like to hear suggestions about what needs to be done."

You dumb, stupid, retarded moron, Cheney was addressing the lies and distortions made on a daily basis by your side. I don't expect you to tell the truth either...after all, you're a Democrat.

I think I need a drink...and I don't drink...

JAS adds: Murtha's is a textbook case of overplaying his party's hand. His wild, deranged, rabidly dishonest sedition and that of his fellow-travelers is making it exceedingly difficult for Republicans to remain in a position of supine "compromise."

Cases in point (h/t GOP Bloggers):

Congressman Joe Wilson:

"After a leading Al-Qaeda terrorist recently stated that his goal was to expel Americans from Iraq, it is reckless for Congressman Murtha and House Democrats to agree with Zawahiri that the United States should withdraw our troops from Iraq before they complete their mission. Instead of proposing winning solutions for the Global War on Terrorism, Democrats are throwing up their hands and waving the white flag of surrender. Democrats have no positive agenda, no vision, and no sense of leadership. As our brave men and women in uniform continue to protect our country, Nancy Pelosi, John Murtha, and other Democrats should not embolden our enemy.

"As a Veteran and the father of a son who served in Iraq, I know that our troops are making tremendous progress in establishing a civil society and completing their mission. Republicans recognize that we will either face the terrorists on the streets of Iraq or we will face them in our own country. President Bush and House Republicans remain committed to protecting American families."

Congressman David Dreier:

"I have the utmost respect for Jack Murtha and his service to our country, but I believe his call today for immediate troop withdrawal is absolutely wrong. Frankly, I am baffled by it. The truth is, while our campaign in Iraq has not been without difficulty, it has not been without success either. We have an exit strategy for victory that is two fold: helping to establish a stable Iraqi government and the training and equipping of Iraqi security forces. We are making substantial progress on both fronts.

"The January elections and the constitutional referendum in October have demonstrated incredible levels of political participation amongst the Iraqi people. Another election is less than a month away and it will put in place a new Iraqi government. On the security front, we have more than 200,000 Iraqi security forces in various stages of training. Many are fighting alongside our Marines in Operation Steel Curtain right now. Together, they are rooting out and killing terrorists.

"To abruptly pull out our troops now would send the worst possible signal to the terrorists, other governments in the region, the Iraqi people, and most important - our troops. We are proud of their efforts. We are grateful for their sacrifice. And we have the utmost confidence in their ability to fight and complete this vital mission. This is not a game, and it should not be a political issue. I would hope that my Democratic colleagues would refrain from further dismissing the accomplishments of our troops and start channeling their considerable energy into supporting victory rather than defeat."

Congresswoman Kay Granger:

"Calling for immediate troop withdrawal from Iraq is reprehensible and irresponsible. It shows the Democratic Party has chosen a policy of retreat and defeatism which will only encourage the terrorists and threaten the stability of Iraq. This is a policy unacceptable to the safety and security of this country. Today's comments should send an enormous red flag to the American public."

You wonder when somebody on the other side is going to get to people like Jack Murtha and tell them to look at how Republicans are fleeing to the tall grass on the war on the other side of the Capitol and stop doing and saying things that run the risk of bleeping it all up. Then you look at what Murtha is - a supposedly "hawkish" Donk who voted for the war and is obviously being pressed into service as a little surrogate John Kerry - and you realize there aren't any voices of reason on that side of the aisle.

I'm not usually real big on Mark Noonan's analytical abilities, but he posted something this morning that this Murtha screed makes awfully precient:

The Democrats are in a no-win situation - and quite deservedly. People who peddle lies as a means of advancing their cause deserve all the trouble which comes their way. The Democrats will eventually have to either renounce their lies - and be exposed as fools - or they will have to embrace the underlying conspiracy theories of the lies - and be exposed as lunatics. In either case, the Democrats will pay a heavy price.

I don't know about that last bit (although Jim Geraghty seems to concur), but one thing does seem certain - given the myriad ways in which both parties are going out of their respective ways to bury themselves with the electorate, 2006 is shaping up as the ultimate game of political Russian roulette.

UPDATE: Maybe GOP prostration is impregnable after all.

Meanwhile, Double H reprints a couple of representative emails that reflect what elected Republicans beyond the Vice President should be saying - not in press releases, but at the top of their lungs on the House and Senate floors:

As to the Congressman's remarks regarding our Vice President, that is a direct assault on the Constitution of the US which clearly gives the civilians control over the military. You will not meet ONE officer in our Armed Forces who does not believe in this as an article of faith. We have sworn our very lives to its protection. I find it interesting that Congressman Murtha would attack that precept of our governing document. One caller mentioned FDR. What about President Clinton? Was he unqualified to conduct the war in Bosnia due to his contempt for our Armed Forces? NO. He was the president and that makes him the commander in chief, PERIOD. Murtha should be pilloried relentlessly for his seditious remarks and he should never be taken seriously again.

~ ~ ~

As a U.S. Army veteran of the Vietnam Era and the father of two sons, one a 6 year Army Veteran and the other a 13 year active duty soldier preparing for his 3rd tour in Iraq, I want you to know that I, and they, feel you have abandoned them today. We have great respect for your honorable service but your past service makes it even worse a betrayal of those who fight today!

My oldest son said it best after 9/11 when I told him “well the American people are behind you now”. His response was “Yeah, Dad….for how long?” it didn’t take the Democratic Party very long to abandon them. It took you a little longer but the betrayal is complete. We are winning this war everywhere except at home. You have forgotten what it felt like to be a soldier spit on by your fellow citizens. You join the ranks of those who want to drive military recruiters out of the schools.

You sir, should be ashamed. [emphases added]

We're losing the war at home because congressional Republicans, to say nothing of the Bushies, have been unwilling to fight against the DisLoyal Opposition's seditious propaganda. The reason public support for the GWOT, to the highly debatable degree that it is reflected in Extreme Media polling, has fallen is because, just as Bush conceded the field of war debate to the other side for nearly a year after the invasion phase of Operation Iraqi Freedom ended, so he and his party did again after last November's election. It can hardly be surprising, then, that with the American people only getting one side of the war story - the seditious, morbid, macabre, defeatist side - the Democrats have been able to bulldoze public opinion inexorably in favor of another self-inflicted defeat.

The thing is, they're not there yet. While polls show a majority now think OIF was "a mistake," majorities also still support staying in Iraq until that job, at least, is done. But the Dems clearly think they've got the momentum behind them and the GOP on the run, and that's why you get increasingly brazen and shrill treasonous outbursts like John Murtha's today.

And given the actions of Senate Republicans earlier in the week, and their conspicuous refusal to acknowledge not only their error but the storm of grassroots outrage blowing back at them, it's difficult to begrudge the other side that impression.

It may be that the Bush White House, like a football team down three touchdowns in the fourth quarter at the two minute warning finally going into a hurry-up offense and the gadget playbook, waited too long to finally get back into [or simply ignored until it was too late] the PR game on the GWOT and spotted the Democrats too big of a lead, and now they have nobody left to block for them. And the blitzers are coming from all directions.

Perhaps the majority will get such an earful during their holiday break that it will reinfuse them with some fresh gumption, at least for a while. If not, all the poll-watching and attendant weathervane-ism in the world isn't going to save them a year from now.

Frankly, at this point I think the President agreeing to Congressman Murtha's pell-mell retreat proposal is more likely than a resurgence of testicular Pachyderm fortitude.

ONE MORE UPDATE: Apologies to Jen for essentially hijacking her post, but I have to post this graph from Mark Steyn's appearance on the Hugh Hewitt show this afternoon:

Well, I would be in favor of wrapping virtually every Republican Senator in asbestos, and using them to insulate my attic. I think that would be a more useful deployment of them, than what they're doing in the United States Senate. That is simply the most absurd, irrelevant, minimalist approach to governing that I've heard. You know, the trouble is...it reminds me of something that I think Norman Lamont, when he was chancellor of the exchequer, said in Britain about ten years ago, that he said that the conservative party, he said then, is in office, but not in power. And that's what these guys give the appearance of. They're in office, but they're not in power. And who needs to elect these people for asbestos legislation? [emphasis added]

The best tombstone epitaph I ever saw said, "I TOLD you I was sick..." "Who needs to elect these people for asbestos legislation?" would be the political equivalent.