Reid's big lie on Iraq

David Limbaugh:

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... Reid (with Pelosi) wrote, "Last November, the American people overwhelmingly made clear their desire to bring the war in Iraq to a responsible end. Yet, at the start of this year, you announced a substantial escalation of our military presence in Iraq."

There are about as many opinions as to why Republicans lost majority control as there are political commentators, some believing the unpopularity of the war was the primary factor, and others believing it was Republican abandonment of conservative principles. Others believe the elections turned more on state than federal concerns.

But one thing is clear. Voters couldn't possibly have been affirming Democratic policy on Iraq, because there was no discernible Democratic policy on Iraq, other than to undercut all aspects of the Bush policy and offer no alternatives.

Of course, almost all voters wanted and still want to "bring the war in Iraq to a responsible end." But only the administration offered a plan based on that goal. Bush has always wanted to bring the war to a responsible end, in the sense of ending American involvement as soon as Iraqi security forces are capable of stabilizing and defending the Iraqi government.

Though Democrats have advocated cutting and running from Iraq -- and thereby ending American involvement there -- one would be hard-pressed to call such a proposal a likely route to a "responsible" ending for the war. How would it be responsible to precipitately withdraw from Iraq when the likely consequences would be mayhem, anarchy, a bona fide civil war, the emboldening of our terrorist enemies, a new launching pad for international terrorism backed by Iraqi oil funds and a virtual guaranty that our fallen soldiers in Iraq will have died in vain?

To this day, Reid's Democrats have never explained how a near-immediate, telegraphed withdrawal would have the remotest chance of serving America's national interests and security. They've never explained how any of their misguided policies would do so.

Maybe that's one reason why, despite the manifest unpopularity of the war, Harry Reid and his cohorts enjoy lower approval ratings than the president. Though the public is understandably unsatisfied with the mostly media-driven perception that we have made no progress and done nothing constructive in Iraq, it has to know that Reid and company offer no sane alternatives and plenty of irrational and destructive ones. It's as if Reid is on a mission to reach new depths in his approval ratings. One sure-fire way he can succeed is to continue cheerleading for our enemy.

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Much of Reid's unpopularity is with the Democrat kook base which is never going to vote Republican. But it does explain in part his insulting language about the military to a group he is trying to appease. Reid and Pelosi still see political gain from a US defeat in Iraq and they are still desperate to cause that defeat because a win would devastate their political prospects. They are betraying this country in a time of war. Their disgraceful conduct would be a mark of shame to Democrats for years into the future.

See also Lori Byrd's column on Reid's working overtime for failure in Iraq.