The Party of Retreat
John O’Neil wrote an excellent editorial on why the suggested troop pull-out by Congressman Murtha (D-PA) and company is standard protocol for the Donkeycrats:
The Democratic Party (notwithstanding its cynical expressions of concern for the same troops it periodically seeks to label as engaged in widespread crime) is regarded with intense distrust by many active duty and retired military personnel. They have been Kerried once too often. It was once the majority party that stopped the Nazis, Fascists, and North Koreans and that in words of a far different Kennedy summoned us “to fight any battle” for freedom. Sadly, the party of Henry Jackson and Franklin Roosevelt has become the party of retreat - from the Iranian Hostage Crisis to the retreat from Mogadishu; to opposition to the 1991 Gulf War; to the failure to avenge the 1993 World Trade Center bombing or the USS Cole bombing or the murder of our own troops and embassy personnel around the world. Indeed, this past Thursday night, the nation watched the bizarre spectacle of a Democratic Party speaking in favor of immediate withdrawal but too afraid to even cast a vote recording for posterity these convictions. And the drift from American values to the party of Mr. Kerry and Michael Moore has been matched by its shrinking base. Recent polls, for example, show vastly lower approval ratings - in the low 20s - for Congressional Democrats than even the low rating of Mr. Bush.
The retreatist Dems are trying to have its both ways: placating the radical leftists donors who fill their coffers and support their candidates (like MoveOn.org) while at the same time proclaiming their steadfast support for our troops. John O’Neil demonstrates, however, in a Democrat’s war victory is defeat or deliberate inaction. It’s as if the Democratic Party has whitewashed the last part of the Star-Spangled Banner. No longer the “Home of the Brave,” America is a regime that tortures terrorist detainees and ignites uprisings in Iraq and elsewhere. What a shame.