Recently in War Category

Vice President Dick Cheney gave his "CLAP LOUDER" speech to a combat veterans group and the usual terms were bandied about. But this bit at the end of the article caught my eye.

The vice president cited the darkest days of the American Revolution, when the war was going badly and ragtag rebels were ready to go home until George Washington rallied them. "They stayed in the fight, and America won the war," he said. "From that day to this, our country has always counted on the bravest among us to answer the call of duty."

It would be an apt comparison if we had a leader with the skills of George Washington. Nobody in the current administration has what he had. Nobody will have faith in Bush like they did in Washington. That isn't to say that people will not blindly follow Bush -- they will, just not into war. Operation Yellow Elephant exposes that quite well.

I have some friends who think that Iraq was the right thing to do. A war of necessity, not of choice. A war of principle, not of politics. Along the long and winding road they have cited all the same reasons that Bush cited: WMD, terror links, and of course, freedom -- even holding out on the first two when they became inoperative. Every once in a while I would find an article that I think may break the cognitive dissonance and I crank out an e-mail. It has never worked. It always devolves into Clinton-bashing. In my mind this says that Iraq couldn't have been all that if the best you have is, "oh yeah, Clinton was worse." But such is the hatred for the Big Dog. Now I'm no fan of President Bush and I can barely think of one policy that he has put forth that I agree with, but I'll be damned if I make excuses for the next Democratic president based on my dislike of Bush.

But last night I thought I'd found an article in WaPo that would finally break through. I was just about to fire off the e-mail when I realized that it wouldn't break through and before the end of the day it would be back to Clinton-bashing.

So I passed. I've given up on breaking their cognitive dissonance. Only they will be able to break through, on their own time and with their own ideas. Of course it's entirely possible that they will forever be convinced that Bush is the greatest man that has ever lived, greater than a thousand Trumans and Eisenhowers all wrapped into one. But even Bush knows that history will be the judge of his work in office and I can't imagine it will be kind to him if events play out like they seem to be.

So here is to 2006 and a change of tactics.