Weird ideas about Patriotism

Bob Schieffer: "Do you believe it is unpatriotic to criticize the Iraq policy?"

You know I don't think I've ever heard anybody in the Bush Administration suggest that it's "unpatriotic to criticize the Iraq policy." But accusing Bush of lying to the American people about WMD goes beyond civility, especially when you have pliable news media willing to play up everything you put out.

The fact that the critics and politically opposition have elected to pin their campaign on an obvious and scurrilous lie shows how little they really have to offer in the way of ideas or arguments.

I'm sure that Bush was hoping his fellow Republicans would have knocked this out of the park before now, but he's become the Little Red Hen asking "Who will help me explore for oil in ANWR?" and "Who will help me cut government pork projects?" His Republican "allies" in Congress are all sniveling, "Not I!" But there are some things that Bush can't do by himself, so there will be no bread, no energy independence, and probably no Republican majority or president in January 2009.

I hadn't read Ed Morrissey's post on the same thing when I wrote that third paragraph. Here's part of what he has to say:

How empty are the Democrats of ideas and long-term plans for national security? Three years later, they're still lying about their own statements on national TV to smear George Bush -- even though he can't run for election again! Rockefeller shows how lame this meme has become. It should embarrass every Democrat in the country and start a demand for new party leadership. Unfortunately, it won't, but it may finally convince the rational moderates that the Democrats have led the party over a cliff.

Senator Jay Rockefeller, on Fox News Sunday, Rockefeller tried to claim that when he voted to authorize the war it was a vote to continue to work through the U.N. Later in the pundits' discussion Juan Williams tried to get away with the same claim and Brit Hume stopped him cold. Hume is a treasure. I hope he doesn't retire any time soon.