History Forum / General / British History / February 2007

Hilarius Magnus Cum Laude!

DSH

Lux et Veritas et Libertas
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Pelosi Questions Own Patriotism

"House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday phoned President Bush to air her
complaints over Vice President Dick Cheney's comments that the Congressional
Democrats' plan for Iraq would 'validate the Al Qaeda strategy,' " Fox News
reports:

 Pelosi, who said she could not reach the president, said Cheney's comments
wrongly questioned critics' patriotism and ignored Bush's call for openness
on Iraq strategy.

 "You cannot say as the president of the United States, 'I welcome
disagreement in a time of war,' and then have the vice president of the
United States go out of the country and mischaracterize a position of the
speaker of the House and in a manner that says that person in that position
of authority is acting against the national security of our country," the
speaker said.

Here is what Cheney said, in an ABC News interview:

 I think, in fact, if we were to do what Speaker Pelosi and Congressman
Murtha are suggesting, all we'll do is validate the al Qaeda strategy. The
al Qaeda strategy is to break the will of the American people. In fact,
knowing they can't win in a stand-up fight, try to persuade us to throw in
the towel and come home, and then they win because we quit. I think that's
exactly the wrong course to go on. I think that's the course of action that
Speaker Pelosi and Jack Murtha support. I think it would be a huge mistake
for the country.

Bingo!  Further, the Democrats have done this before -- just over 30 years
ago -- during the Vietnam War. -- DSH

It is true that Cheney accuses Pelosi and Murtha of, as she puts it, "acting
against the national security of our country." Does Pelosi think it
illegitimate to make such accusations? Evidently not, to judge by this
Pelosi press release of Sept. 24, 2006:

 The news report on the National Intelligence Estimate is further proof
that the war in Iraq is making it harder for America to fight and win the
war on terror.

 Five years after 9/11 and Osama bin Laden is still free and not a single
terrorist who planned 9/11 has been caught and brought to justice. President
Bush should read the intelligence carefully before giving another misleading
speech about progress in the war on terrorism.

Pelosi claimed that the president's policies have helped al Qaeda -- a
commonplace among Democratic opponents of the Iraq effort (including many
who voted for it).  Why is Cheney's statement invidious if Pelosi's was
innocuous?

BINGO! -- DSH

It's not because Cheney questioned Pelosi & Co.'s patriotism, as she claims.

He didn't. He said they were espousing bad policies, but he offered no
opinion or speculation about their motives for doing so.  Pelosi thus joins
a long line of Democrats to raise questions about their own patriotism.

James Taranto
The Wall Street Journal