Your Friendly Neighborhood Political Update

A spot-on op-ed by Bob-not John-Kerrey in todays WSJ:

He makes a point I've been arguing for a while now but that it's good to see a Democrat make:

Suppose we had not invaded Iraq and Hussein had been overthrown by Shiite and Kurdish insurgents. Suppose al Qaeda then undermined their new democracy and inflamed sectarian tensions to the same level of violence we are seeing today. Wouldn't you expect the same people who are urging a unilateral and immediate withdrawal to be urging military intervention to end this carnage? I would.

Even if one were to concede all of the Liberal talking points about Bush's malfeasence prior to the war. That does not change the reality that we are already there and that many more Iraqis would die were we to precipitously leave.

There was also an interesting paragraph where Kerrey shows himself to be very much the hawk (moreso than yours truly), twisting Jim Webb's words in ways I'm sure Webb wouldn't be comfortable with:

Finally, Jim Webb said something during his campaign for the Senate that should be emblazoned on the desks of all 535 members of Congress: You do not have to occupy a country in order to fight the terrorists who are inside it. Upon that truth I believe it is possible to build what doesn't exist today in Washington: a bipartisan strategy to deal with the long-term threat of terrorism.

The American people will need that consensus regardless of when, and under what circumstances, we withdraw U.S. forces from Iraq. We must not allow terrorist sanctuaries to develop any place on earth. Whether these fighters are finding refuge in Syria, Iran, Pakistan or elsewhere, we cannot afford diplomatic or political excuses to prevent us from using military force to eliminate them.

Tough words. Kerrey appears to be far more of a cowboy than Bush has ever been.

Here are some links to two good, old fashioned Carter bashing. Oh, how I enjoy it. To be fair the Investor Business Daily editorial is a little bit over the top. Despite his many faults Carter does not bear primary responsibility for the majority of the world's wills, but then I didn't have to live through Carter. Some exaggeration can be excused. Murchison's article is more balanced and captures Carter's moralizing tone very well.