The Post-Election Post #1 Thanks George

Well folks I have been fighting my blogging doldrums but the election came up and so as some one who has talked a lot in the past (a lot) about the political system I need to say some stuff.

I really wanted to do more on this election but it felt like... it really felt like this election was a whole lot of nothing. Their were things that mattered to me at stake in this election but it really didn't seem to me like it mattered to the people who were running this election. My buddy Ken Kerns, as well as my Buddy Mark Griffis and I joke about how the people in charge don't know what their doing and really this election makes it feels almost like solid fact.

In the end it came down to this it’s very clear that to the American voter the Republicans didn't deserve to win.... and that's why the Democrats took control. In the weeks and months ahead that's not going to be how the tea leaves are read... indeed just today we see the white house failed to leave the mark of blood so it had to sacrifice one of its own.

This sacrifice makes me truly worry about my country. Don Rumsfeld was not a man who was brought on to lead a War on Terror. He was brought on to remodel the Military and he has had 6 years of progress on it.... which stop now I fear, and that's to our detriment down the road. We need to have a military that is ready for the wars we fight another 10 or 20 years from now... not have a military ready only for the conflicts that lay in our field of vision. He was sacrificed for political convenience and I fear for this country we will have other sacrifices to come.

The only salvation I think is the Democrats are going to want to keep the war festering for as long as they can to keep the door open on the anti-war vote for 2008 .... But, I truly fear even that notion because then they will know as our enemies did when we pull out of Saigon. And if we do to the Iraqi people what we did to the People of South Vietnam in the end our military might well be confirmed as a paper tiger. We ran from Somalia, We Ran far away from even trying in Rwanda, We ran from Lebanon, We ran from Indochina, and now perhaps running from Iraq. If this happens I fear for the world because the last time the strength of the United States withdrew like this we saw the rise of Hitler... and even that analogy has its flaws.

Rome began its fall when Rome built the gates to keep the barbarians out and focused on itself. As it did that soon it needed the Barbarians to man the gates against other Barbarians. We look to Europe and we see the Barbarians are at the gate there... are we going to repeat that folly and build our own gates now?

You look at it the election was not an endorsement on ending the policy in Iraq... yet that's what The President has now anointed it so.

Here are some more words on the oil our president is anointing his wounds with

On at least one Persian Gulf issue, Gates has been associated with a different approach than the one now being pursued. In the summer of 2004, Gates and former national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski co-chaired a task force sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations that argued for opening a dialogue with Iran. The task forces report contended that the lack of American engagement with Iran had harmed American interests, and advocated direct talks with the Iranians. “Just as the United States has a constructive relationship with China (and earlier did so with the Soviet Union) while strongly opposing certain aspects of its internal and international policies, Washington should approach Iran with a readiness to explore areas of common interests while continuing to contest objectionable policy,” said the report, entitled “Iran: Time for a New Approach.”

China and the Soviets did not break international law in the way the Iranians are doing, yet the man who will be running our defense department now doesn't see it that way. A man who crafted this new approach with the architect of the Carter foreign policy..... Is this what we want? Do we want to bring Carterism into our government?

When the people of Iran cry out for new leadership, when they cry out for freedom and a western way of life we should not be breaking bread with the men who execute them. We should not be enabling the people who are destroying the economy. Because if engagement was truly the key the powers of Europe should have had the matter all settled.... engagement isn't a panacea.

And yet you look at the Ballot measures. Eminent Domain reform (which Pelosi does not favor) Passed, Bans on Gay marriage passed in almost all the states they came up on. Restrictions on Illegal aliens at a state level -even in states the democrats did well in- passed. Why did we lose? We lost because George W. Bush is not, and never was the heir to Ronald Reagan. He was not one of us and never was, but he mesmerized congress into following him.... and in the process lead them to their doom.

He sold us on prescription drug plans... plans we didn't like. In the election the plan that was better funded then the Democrat alternative was sold as a great evil to seniors who we were told only a few years earlier had to choose between eating and buying their medication. So clearly this plan did not bring us a more "compassionate" face to the public because the democrats would still find a way to crucify us for it. But the congress sold its soul and they sold it in the Bipartisan marketplace.

he told us we needed to interfere more into our school systems, but again instead of making an issue a plus like he said... instead of "softening" the image of the bad old evil conservatives we ended up being worse then before. Test scores were good in some areas but raw data isn't a comforting retort to the emotion of waging war on poor schools. He tried to take their issue and make it his through their methods and that simply isn't how you advance the issues.

Two issues used to attack his leadership, and to attack the competency of the congress he advanced because we needed to "unite" and be "bipartisan".... and a third McCain-Feingold laid out the tools we saw the Democrats use to gain parity with the GOP.... he also twisted the party into Supporting.


He tried to dip into that well a fourth time and give a bitter pill of an immigration bill, partnering again with Ted Kennedy.... but this time the Republicans in the house saw through it. They tried to reclaim its soul but it simply was too late.

George, we lost in large part due to the fact that you lead the Republican Party too far to the left. You were good at winning elections, and in 2000...2002...and 2004 you earned a lot of capital. But you do have to pay it all back and you failed at that George.

You failed to hold strong with intellectual firepower on the courts because the truth is that’s not what you believe in. You believe in micro-politics that has gotten you as far as you did.

George Winners want the ball. You can manage the clock but in the end if you can put it in for 6 you darn well do it.

George you flat out didn't want to win because winning involves working hard and potentially losing.

You picked Collin Powell to be Secretary of State during a war in which he was simply eaten alive by those who opposed our policy. When you could have brought an A game talent back into the picture or used Dr. Rice to seduce those who wished to derail what was right you stuck with what managed the clock... what you thought would earn you a couple of percentages in a couple of precincts.

You never fought this the right way, you never fought to win.

You kept Rumi in DoD when as soon as the war turned up you needed a War time conselegri.

You could have even saved Powell and slid him in

in the end George you didn't fight to win you fought to keep the other guy losing

and you saw how well just two years ago that worked for John Kerry

Thanks George.... thanks for showing what an Ivy League education produces