Haditha, the GOP & the Midterms

Eleanor Clift has pulled those three things together in her latest column. Here's a sampling from her column:
The administration has a stake in convincing the public that what happened in Haditha was an isolated incident and that it does not reflect a broader message about a war gone bad, or a war that should never have been waged in the first place. It will be an important turning point if Marines are actually indicted, and if it is found that there was complicity within the Marine Corps. It makes it harder to look at this war as a moral enterprise. The American people have already decided we're not any safer because we're in Iraq and that the war is more of a humanitarian gesture to help the Iraqi people.
If it turns out that the Marines lost their discipline, then it's a reflection on the Marines' leadership. People don't think that the President is tarnished because military command and execution failed. That's something that people should see as focused solely on the local leadership.

Furthermore, I think it's a stretch to say that "the American people have already decided we're not any safer because we're in Iraq." Puhhleaze. This shows why Democrats not named Lieberman shouldn't be given the national security controls. Does anyone who's serious about national security think that leaving Saddam in power wouldn't give al-Qaida another sanctuary? I'd bet the ranch that Saddam would've given bin Laden sanctuary had Saddam not been deposed.
The single biggest factor in how well the president's party does in the midterm elections is the popularity of the chief executive.
That's the meme that liberals will be touting from now until November. It's also a meme that will be rejected by voters. When people get around to making their decisions, does anyone think a voter will go into the voting booth thinking "I'm gonna vote for the Democrat because Bush has had a tough year"? Is it more likely that they'd ask "Which of these candidates is closer to my views?" I'll bet the ranch on them asking who's got the beliefs that are closer to their views. And that isn't a Democrat very often.



Posted Saturday, June 3, 2006 1:38 PM

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