Reply #12: PPI praises censure of MoveOn, says "terror war" will never end

[madfloridian]

This was a very obvious attempt by someone who is not a Democrat apparently to encourage the effort to be strong at all costs.

Bridge the security gap

This constant pounding on not letting the Republicans make us look weak has taken its toll on our party.

To their credit, most Democrats swiftly condemned MoveOn's scurrilous attempts to vilify Gen. David Petraeus, even as they kept the pressure on President Bush to change course in Iraq. Unfortunately, however, changing old stereotypes has been made more difficult of late by misguided rhetoric from some Democratic congressional leaders and presidential candidates on issues that are central to the perception of the party's seriousness on defense and security matters. It would be a shame if, having done so much to shore up their credentials for national-security leadership, Democrats start backsliding in the heat of a national election.

That paragraph was calling to task anyone who speaks out against what we did there in Iraq. That is shameful to see that at a think tank that is affiliated supposedly with Democrats.

I will not hesitate to say that I feel that Bill Clinton in his zeal to appear strong on national security said something in a speech in 2002 that has put our party on the wrong path. I posted it above, I will post it again.

We should never ever have tried to appear "strong" on Iraq at the expense of being right and honest.

He said it is better to be strong and wrong than look weak and be right.

"The last point I want to make is we've got to be strong," he declared. "When we look weak in a time where people feel insecure, we lose. When people feel uncertain, they'd rather have somebody who's strong and wrong than somebody who's weak and right." Actually, this was also the first point he made in his hourlong speech, and he repeated it many times throughout. Supporting the war is insufficient, Clinton warned. "I approve of what's being done in Iraq now and the way it's being done, but it's not enough," he said

How many of our military and how many innocent Iraqis would be alive today if we had dared to be right?