Posted on 08/24/2005 2:49:33 PM PDT by WillMalven
Senator Hagel Sunday suggested, effectively, surrendering to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Senator Hagel believes that we should abandon the Iraqis to terrorists because he’s afraid of another Vietnam.
Earth to Hagel, the only way this war can become a Vietnam is if weak-kneed Republicans like you and the other RINOs begin to back down in the face of Democrat and MSM pressure. Vietnam was lost when America’s politicians and the American people lost the will to fight and win the war. The constant barrage, by the MSM, of false portrayals of American defeats and the constant drumbeat of the death count of American soldiers served the propaganda purposes of the North Vietnamese. With no alternative source for information, the American people’s attitude became progressively more negative. Politicians, driven by the fear of being on the wrong side, became less and less capable of standing firm in support of the war. The American people need a leader of vision, not a follower of polls. How is it that so many Republican politicians lack the intestinal fortitude to stand the winds of negative press from the MSM? If they believe that the MSM, long an adjunct of the Democrat Party, is going to help them get elected against a Democrat, they are living in a fantasy world. The MSM will provide an anti-war Republican with a favorable platform from which to speak only until they gain the nomination, at which point, they will turn on them. Currying favor with the MSM has never and will never be a successful strategy for a Republican. A genuine leader seeks to shape the opinions of the American people, not allow the MSM to do so. He leads from conviction not from expedience. Hagel may have been a hero in war, but he is a rank coward in politics. Perhaps Senator Hagel needs to talk to some of our troops coming back from Iraq. You know, the same ones that are re-upping for second, third, or even fourth, tours of duty in Iraq because they believe that what they are doing is good and necessary work and believe that they are succeeding in their campaign.
Come on Senator Chuck, do you honestly believe that the al-Qaeda wing of the Democrat Party is going to replace the millions of Conservatives that you have just alienated? Do you believe that there are enough Libertarian Republicans to do so? Just as McCain turned his back on the Conservatives in the Republican Party by his continual efforts to curry favor with the Left, even going so far as to play footsies with the Kerry Campaign over the possibility of running as VP on the Democrat ticket, Hagel has now abandoned his base constituency. I can tell you right now, both Hagel and McCain are finished as potential Republican Presidential candidates. They will never be nominated by our party. That’s it, finito, end of the line, forget it, sayonara, good-bye! You cannot win the Republican nomination if you have abandoned the base. I can tell you what else, Senator Frist’s change of stance on stem-cell research and Senator Allen, who has made his own faux pas by suggesting that the president should meet with Cindy Sheehan, again, had better watch themselves or they will end up in the same place. A Republican politician must accept the fact that he will always be disliked by the MSM and that he will be opposed by the MSM in his every effort to communicate his message. For a Republican, strength of character and having the courage of their convictions in the face of the constant barrage of criticism are de rigueur. Neither the Republicans nor the American people will be well served by a “Casper Milquetoast” whose opinions and convictions are at the beck and call of the latest political poll. An assertion as per Jim Hacker (of the British sitcom “Yes Minister”) of “I am their leader, I must follow them,” will not cut it.
President Bush polls highest with the American people on his honesty and strength of character. He has been successful because he has refused to concern himself with what the latest poll numbers say. Just as the late President Ronald Reagan, President Bush is a man of firm conviction. He knows exactly what his vision for America is and he is dogged in his determination to take us there. Exactly to the extent that a potential Republican Presidential candidate declares his independence from the polls and the power of his political advisors, he will succeed in his efforts. By associating himself with McCain and the rest of the RINO sheep, Senator Hagel has driven a stake in the heart of his own political aspirations. There will be no Republican nomination for Chuck Hagel or John McCain in 2008. There have recently been rumors of a possible McCain/Kerry ticket, a rumor reported in The Hill [link] today. This man believes that he can secure the Republican nomination?
It never ceases to amaze and amuse me, the lengths to which a politician will go to make an ass of himself. To date two of the most prominent Republican Senators have done so and are vying to see which one is the more profoundly foolish. I have no problem with Hagel and McCain falling on their respective swords for the sake of our party and the Republican victory in 2008, as I have little regard for either of them and their political views. McCain has relentlessly pursued that unconstitutional abomination known as campaign finance law, and been on the wrong side of any number of issues in the past. He has been very vocal about the imprisoning of enemy combatants in GiTMO, perhaps the most understandable of his stances because of his own imprisonment during the Vietnam War. Hagel chose to run interference for the Democrats on the Bolton nomination during those hearings, and has himself, made a number of poor choices for a potential Republican nominee.
With our Republican Senators self-destructing at an astounding pace, things are looking better and better for Governor Mitt Romney, who today declared his support for President Bush’s Iraq policies, and Newt Gingrich who, if he can get beyond his own personal shortcomings, is certainly the most qualified and knowledgeable potential candidate in the field. As for the other potential candidates like Patake and Giuliani, I do not believe they stand a chance simply because of their position on the abortion/life issues. We are still too far away to make any real assumptions about the 2008 elections, but I believe that these two have pretty much destroyed their own chances.
Nothing astonishes men so much as common sense and plain dealing. Ralph Waldo Emerson, 'Art,' 1841
Leni
I've been accused of being an armchair general, but I agree with your post 100%. The only thing they understand is the sword. Notice how the "fearless leaders" incite their youths to strap on bomb belts, yet we find them cowering in rat holes when they should be leading their damn jihads?
America has got to stop listening to the whining drone from world opinion and MSM. We need to kick the UN out of this country, and prosecute the vile little insects like Kofi Annan for violating a million different rules.
Finally, we need to just come out and call this a religious war, because that's what it is. Our enemy says it is, so why is everyone pussyfooting around the subject? The only way to win this war is to permanently subdue and destroy the enemy. In my ignorant opinion, of course.
will require that Iran and Syria be put in their place.
I think you're right.
Paris Accords were signed, game over.
The game was over long before the Paris Accords. As I said, Johnson would not allow the US to win. Handcuffed the military. Remember the NVA was shooting at the last planes leaving Saigon.
True...but in what possible way is he to do that? If he were to attack Iran or Syria, we would not have the manpower to do it. And unfortuately, the Dems, by not backing the troops or the mission since Day One, have fomented such division that any move to truly win the war in that way would be successfully portrayed as Bush the Warmonger and America the COnqueror...(Most people don't see him or us in that way now..but they would then)
It's not a matter of being PC.... but the nation will not back an escalation, and without the support of the people, it really DOES become a Vietnam.
Yep, people just keep on "mis-underestimating" him! :-)
LLS
I hope and pray you are right!!!
Actually, I disagree with you. A severe bombing attack on Syria with massive destruction of all productive facilities would destroy any economy they have. Not a hair would be harmed in Iran. The folks in Iran will get the message, believe me. This kind of act would also encourage the forces in Iran that want to overthrow the current regime, and opt for a more Democratic form of government. It is Syria that should take massive pain, delivered from the air. As Sherman said, war is hell, so completely and utterly destroy the enemy, and get it over with as fast as you can.
They sure the heck weren't after the Easter Offensive. Remember not much happend in 1974.
Militarily true...but though I do agree that is the best way, with Republicans like Chuck Hagel and John McCain, the Dems, and the media, President Bush will have an impossible task at convincing the American people. The Dems have been successful at portraying Bush as misleading in the run-up to Iraq. With a united public behind him, it would work. Without public support, it would not. Perhaps when there has been more progress in Iraq's elections, etc, the case can be made more persuasively.
Actually I should say 1973, by 1974 they'd starting probing to see if we would provide airsupport.
But you're right, had LBJ pulled his head out the war would never have gotten to Tet.
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