[Smear Machine]

Did I miss something?

"The president and I cannot prevent certain politicians from losing their memory or their backbone. But we're not going to sit by and let them rewrite history."
--Dick Cheney, Wednesday

"He asked me to send Congress a message: Stay the course. He also asked me to send Congressman Murtha a message, that cowards cut and run, Marines never do."
--Rep. Jean Schmidt, R-Ohio, Friday

"Put yourself in the shoes of the enemy. The enemy hears a big debate in the United States, and they have to wonder — 'maybe all we have to do is wait and we'll win.'"
--Don Rumsfeld, Sunday

"An immediate withdrawal of our troops from Iraq will only strengthen the terrorists' hand in Iraq, and in the broader War on Terror. That's the goal of the enemy. They want to break our will in Iraq, so that we leave and they can turn Iraq into what Afghanistan was under the Taliban, a safe haven for terror, a place where they can plot and plan attacks against America and freedom-loving countries around the world."
--Bush, Sunday

Interesting to return from a week away and see politics retrospectively. One lone congressman from rural Pennsylvania argues that we should pull out of Iraq. He's not supported by party leaders in either house, but nevertheless provokes responses from the highest (and lowest) levels of government. He's called spineless, a coward, an appeaser, and an unwitting accomplice to the Taliban. And then you have the US House draft a resolution that is essentially there to mock the position. You don't think that he managed to hit a raw nerve?

It has Terri Schiavo II written all over it. (And Rick Santorum can't be pleased.) Nevertheless, a most pleasant and amusing welcome back. I sure am enjoying the news these days.