Quotes of the Day (well, yesterday actually)

I'd love to shake this man's hand

For the past month, and especially in the past two weeks, the leaders of the Democratic party have been slamming General Petraeus, our leader of the coalition forces in Iraq, for the report he was scheduled to give to Congress this month.

First of all, I have to say it's a dumb move for the Democratic leadership to criticize the man and his message before he even says a word.

The problem that the Democrats have right now is that, as a party, they are totally invested in the defeat of the U.S. Military in Iraq.

They've painted themselves into a corner, and they have to say stupid things which sound even more stupid in the light of the successes of the surge of troops in Iraq thus far. Many areas have turned around dramatically, yet the Democrats in power are so bound by their own words of defeatism that they can only sit and point fingers. Their words ring hollow.

Lately the fingers were pointed at General Petraeus, a man that was confirmed to his position by 98% of the U.S. House of Representatives and 100% of the Senate, by these same members of the House and Senate that now impugn his honesty.

What a bunch of knuckleheads. For two weeks they've basically been calling General Petraeus a liar and his report that he had yet to give as lies written by the Bush Administration.

In other words, panicking in the face of the surge's successes and loading their guns and firing them at the messenger before he even delivers the message.

Well, I'd love to shake General Petraeus's hand, because with his opening statements, cut these Democrats off at the knees beautifully:

Mr. Chairmen, Ranking Members, Members of the Committees, thank you for the opportunity to provide my assessment of the security situation in Iraq and to discuss the recommendations I recently provided to my chain of command for the way forward.

At the outset, I would like to note that this is my testimony. Although I have briefed my assessment and recommendations to my chain of command, I wrote this testimony myself. It has not been cleared by, nor shared with, anyone in the Pentagon, the White House, or Congress.

As a bottom line up front, the military objectives of the surge are, in large measure, being met. In recent months, in the face of tough enemies and the brutal summer heat of Iraq, Coalition and Iraqi Security Forces have achieved progress in the security arena. Though the improvements have been uneven across Iraq, the overall number of security incidents in Iraq has declined in 8 of the past 12 weeks, with the numbers of incidents in the last two weeks at the lowest levels seen since June 2006.

One reason for the decline in incidents is that Coalition and Iraqi forces have dealt significant blows to Al Qaeda-Iraq. Though Al Qaeda and its affiliates in Iraq remain dangerous, we have taken away a number of their sanctuaries and gained the initiative in many areas.

... (emphasis mine)

You can read the entire text of his appearance before our duly elected representatives here.

Touche, General Petraeus. Good job.

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The other quotes are from Rush Limbaugh, and related to what I brought out above.

See, General Petraeus had to basically tell the world that he wrote his own report without the Pentagon's help or the Bush Administration's help, because the real liars were lying about General Petraeus and General Petraeus's report.

Don't believe me?

Chris Matthews of MSNBC: "Washington awaits the Bush Report on Iraq."

Keith Olbermann: "President Bush via his surrogate, General David Petraeus, delivers his report." (I hate Keith Olbermann more than anyone else in the media today.)

Rep. John Murtha: It's not Petraeus' policy, it's Bush's policy.

Rep. Jim McDermott: The report the White House is writing for General Petraeus.

Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin: "The Bush report?"

See what I mean?

That's the kind of thing that's been happening for several weeks now, and General Petraeus gets up there on the microphone in front of all these blowhards and calmly pokes them with a sharp stick. Gotta love it.

Anyway, the quote from Rush Limbaugh was priceless: "I admit that I got some very perplexed glances from staff members on the scene here high atop the EIB building in midtown Manhattan when I mentioned that the Democrats had opened the door into their face, once again, on their pre-spin of the Petraeus report, questioning my interpretation of this. I could see the looks on their faces: "What do you mean, the Petraeus report?" The Democrats are calling it the Bush report. Even the Drive-Bys are calling it the Bush report. Who organized this? Dingy Harry and Nancy Pelosi are calling it the Bush report. Then last night the Drive-Bys are calling it the Bush report. Of course, when Bin Laden says something, we don't question it. When Ahmadinejad says something, we don't question it. When Petraeus or Bush say something, those stinking liars!"

I want to shake his hand too.

Seriously, did you read a transcript of Bin Laden's speech on tape? Holy cow, he said the same tripe that the Democrats did before the election last fall. No wonder they consider Bush and Petraeus liars and Bin Laden someone to be believed!

I haven't made any pretenses on this blog regarding my political views. I'm a conservative.

I'm hoping the Republicans will grow a new set pretty soon and start being conservatives again. The Republicans certainly have their problems, but at least they aren't determined to lose this war.