But I support the troops!

There is a recurring theme offered by many “anti-war in Iraq” dissenters. There is no constructive alternative or solution offered--- just lies and distortions and triangulations, and then hiding behind the “DON”T YOU DARE QUESTION MY PATRIOTISM,” trope, even though no one has questioned it.

I question their judgment. I question their reasoning. I question their motives. But their patriotism is intact.
Patriotism, after all, is the last refuge of the scoundrel.

Dean has said that winning in Iraq is impossible. Pelosi has called for a pullout. Murtha, a previously unknown “democratic hawk” (who has opposed the war since it started” has called for a timetable for “redeployment” even though he wouldn’t vote for it when the republicans called his bluff. Kerry has said that American soldiers are terrorizing Iraqis, and that’s a job best left to Iraqis.

These are not the kook fringe of the party, these are the party leaders, Dean is the DNC chair, Pelosi is the House Minority leader, Murtha is an idiot, and Kerry is the junior Senator most famous for denouncing troops in previous conflicts—but he supports the troops! He also apparently ran for President once, too…but he couldn’t have done very well because I don’t know a single person that voted for him.

These are not substantive, rational calls for a re-evaluation of the foreign policy strategy of preemptive action; these are politically calculated attempts to undermine our efforts in a cynical attempt to curry favor with the anti-war left in the hopes of picking up a couple of seats in the senate in the mid-term elections, even as our troops are in harm’s way.

Do you think that the insurgents might use Kerry’s words as a recruiting tool? Do you think they might use Pelosi’s? Or Dean’s? When prominent Americans in power give aid and comfort to our enemies abroad should we applaud their “courage?”

But they support our troops! Oh, and they love their country.