PRIME TIME BUSH

W took to the airwaves tonight to endorse the Petraeus recommendations as reported to Congress earlier this week. The big point that sticks with me is that Iraq is now an American ally fighting for its survival against Al Qaeda and Iranian terror forces. We must continue to establish the precedent of sticking with allies. Gaining a reputation for cut and run does not help our security interests in the Middle East or anywhere else. Just when we are beginning to see some progress on the ground, the Democraps are raising a foul stench, but it looks like Bush has swung the argument his way, at least temporarily.
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The real good news is that we're killing an average of 1,500 terrorists a month in Iraq. That fact on top of the bottom up changes occurring on the ground point to solid progress. Iraqis are rejecting the Taliban style of rule imposed by Al Qaeda associated miltants and are seeking American help to expel them and keep them on the run. No, we have not seen the governmental changes in Baghdad necessary for long term success, but that will be expedited by momentum from the bottom. Of all times since the war began, this isn't the time for hesitation or talk of surender.
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Even his enemies will eventually have to admit that Bush is a man that sticks to his guns through thick and thin. The man has a vision for the future of the Middle East, and he has shown himself willing to go down with that ship. The calls for a change in Iraq policy may have been all the rage when things weren't going so well, but those same calls now seem a little politically hollow. In poker terms, Bush is "all in" on Iraq: he has pushed all his chips to the center of the table, and it appears the Dems in Congress don't have the cards to call him.
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There were a few small problems with the speech. The President's call for support of increased United Nations involvement in Iraq is obviously misguided. The last thing we need is a herd of corrupt U.N. bureaucrats descending on Iraq to foul up the good work in progress. Remember, the largest financial scandal in world history involved Iraq and the United Nations ("oil for food"). The President also mistakenly omitted a strong warning to Iran and Syria. Both of those nations are providing arms, ammo, and men to fuel terrorism in Iraq, and they're both begging for air strikes. It's time W let them know our tolerance of their interference in Iraq is over, and the consequences might be explosive, literally.
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The Democrap response was predictably lame. Senator Jack Reid of Rhode Island delivered the immediate response. Both he and Hussein Obama (later on CNN) displayed their usual lack of constitutional awareness. Someone should eventually point out to them that Congress has no role in the entire operation, except to either provide funds or not. That's it. Every Dem Representative and Senator tries to be a combination diplomat and military commander, neither of which is their role under that old, dusty Constitution. Senator Reid even referred to "constitutional duties" while simultaneously proving he has very little knowledge of them. Hussein Obama preached a humanitarian and diplomatic effort. Hey, Senator Emptysuit, let us know when you can point to even a single instance of either of those types of programs having any measurable success anywhere on the globe. We'll be waiting. The Great Hussein Obama thinks "reducing anti-American sentiment" is vital to our security. How naive: if we can just get people to like us, everything will be fine. That sort of approach to war is dangerously hopeful.
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Well, as the President said tonight, "It's never too late to deal a blow to Al Qaeda." And it looks as if W has dealt another blow to the defeatists in Congress, with much assistance from the suicide attack by MoveOn. The Dems simply do not have the stones to do what is within their power, so they reach for powers constitutionally outside their grasp. They have gone so far left and invested so much in defeat, they have no room for maneuver to either side. That leaves them rooting for our enemies, as usual.
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JINGOCON