THE FOUNDERS ON NATIONAL DEFENSE

“America united with a handful of troops, or without a single soldier, exhibits a more forbidding posture to foreign ambition than America disunited, with a hundred thousand veterans ready for combat.” —James Madison

EDITORIAL EXEGESIS

“’A Triumph for Pelosi.’ That’s how the Associated Press described [Friday’s] vote by the House to demand a U.S. retreat from Iraq, and in the perverse calculus of Capitol Hill we suppose it was. Speaker Nancy Pelosi has demonstrated she can pile on enough pork to bribe enough Democrats to cobble together a bare, partisan majority to ”send a message“ that has no chance of becoming law. Congratulations. ‘Today is an historic day,’ Ms. Pelosi said on the House floor. ‘The new Congress will vote to end the war in Iraq.’ But of course the bill does nothing of the sort. If she truly wanted to end the war, the Speaker and her fellow Democrats could simply have used their power of the purse to refuse to fund it. But that would have meant taking some responsibility for what happens in Iraq, which is the last thing Democrats want to do. So they have passed a bill that funds the war while claiming it ends the war. The bill’s ‘benchmarks’ and deadlines certainly have nothing to do with achieving victory in Iraq, or assisting General David Petraeus’s campaign to secure Baghdad. They are all about the war inside the Democratic Caucus. On the one hand, they appease the antiwar left by pretending to declare the war illegal if certain goals aren’t met by Iraqis or U.S. forces. But on the other, they allow ‘moderates’ from swing districts to claim they are nonetheless ‘supporting the troops.’ Acts of Congress don’t get much more cynical than that.” —The Wall Street Journal

THE DEMO-GOGUES

But don’t question their patriotism!: “The American people have lost faith in the president’s conduct of this war. The American people see the reality of the war; the president does not.” —House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ++ “People want our troops home.” —Sen. Ben Nelson, on the Senate passing their own retreat bill ++ “We can’t afford to spend one more dime or lose one more American or Iraqi life on this illegal and unwinnable war.” —Rep. Barbara Lee ++ “With our vote this week, we’re helping our troops, protecting our veterans, and fighting to end the waste, fraud and abuse. After four years of a failed policy, Democrats are insisting on a new direction in Iraq and a real plan that holds the Iraqi people accountable for their own country.” —Rep. Paul Hodes

The glass is half empty: “[W]e could be the first generation in a very long time that leaves an America behind that is a little poorer and a little meaner than the one we inherited from our parents, and that’s unacceptable.” —Barack Obama

Heaven help us: “[I] can make him ambassador to the world, because we have a lot of work to do to get our country back in the standing it should be.” —Hillary Clinton on hubby Bill

Prescription—economic ruin: “We’re going to have universal health care when I’m president—there’s no doubt about that… I believe the American people are going to make this an issue. I believe we’re in a better position today to do that than we were in ‘93 and ‘94… It’s one of the reasons I’m running for president.” —Hillary Clinton

Say it ain’t so!: “And here, in one fell swoop, there were eight U.S. attorneys that were dismissed. We know there was politics behind it.” —Sen. Dick Durbin *Of course there was politics behind it—that’s what politicians do!

UPRIGHT

“The idea that an American defeat in Iraq—and like it or not, that is what the sort of a withdrawal [passed by] Congress will be considered in the Muslim world—would make it easier to prevail against Iran is ludicrous. Such an outcome would similarly embolden Iran’s Islamist allies elsewhere, such as Hamas and Hezbollah.” —Jonathan Tobin

“At once the most preposterous and the most dangerous of contemporary beliefs is ‘nothing was ever settled by violence.’ A cursory reading of history makes it clear that virtually every important development in the history of mankind has been, for good or ill, a product of violence.” —Jack Kelly

“There is a word for people who put children in a car to be blown up. The word is evil… It’s important that we say this out loud and that we render this moral judgment. Because if we fail to understand that our enemy is evil, we have failed to understand what we are fighting.” —Newt Gingrich

“When the GOP begins to apologize for routine, non-controversial uses of presidential authority to implement administration policies, no wonder the party is on the ropes.” —Brendan Miniter ++ “[Attorney General Alberto] Gonzales has allowed a scandal to be created where there was none. That is quite an achievement. He had a two-foot putt and he muffed it.” —Charles Krauthammer

“[Al Gore] is a man who makes no bones about wanting to limit population growth by forcing Africans to stop having children but escapes any criticism for what is undisguised racism. If a Republican engaged in such racist proposals he would be ridden out of town on a rail.” —Michael Reagan

INSIGHT

“When people stop believing in God, they don’t believe in nothing—they believe in anything.” —G. K. Chesterton

“The moral underpinnings of our country must be able to bear the weight of today if we’re to pass on to the next generation an America worth having.” —Ronald Reagan

“Though this be madness, yet there is method in it.” —William Shakespeare

“The opposition is indispensable. A good statesmen, like any other sensible human being, always learns more from his opponents than from his fervent supporters.” —Walter Lippmann

“A liberal is a man who will give away everything he doesn’t own.” —Frank Dane

DEZINFORMATSIA

The reason she’s in third place: “Some people wonder if you are in denial. Some have suggested that you’re capitalizing on this. You’re putting your work first, and your family second. The president cannot be distracted by caring about his wife’s situation.” —CBS’s Katie Couric to John Edwards *“Some people” don’t think Katie is a serious news anchor.

Delusional: “But at this point 2004 looks like an aberration, an election won with fear-and-smear tactics that have passed their sell-by date. Republicans no longer have a perceived edge over Democrats on national security—and without that edge, they stand revealed as ideologues out of step with an increasingly liberal American public.” —Paul Krugman, The New York Times

From the conspiracy theory files: “Is Dick Cheney an Iranian mole?” —Nicholas Kristof, NY Times

Snow Job: “The man dubbed the ‘Goracle’ now jets around the planet trying to save it. Gore today called on Congress to freeze carbon emissions and figure out how to drastically reduce all greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2050—the message endorsed by much of the scientific community.” —ABC’s Kate Snow ++ From the Church of Eco-theology: “There are non-believers, like Senator James Inhofe, who all but called Gore a hypocrite since he paid about $30,000 last year for his home energy. Gore’s answer: It’s not cheap being green.” —CBS’s Gloria Borger

This week’s “Clintonista Media Sycophant” Award: “What you said then in ‘93 [about universal health care]—many people felt it was just, in some ways, ahead of its, ahead of its time.” —ABC’s Robin Roberts gushing over Hillary Clinton’s socialist scheme

Newspulper Headlines: We Blame Global Warming: “’Chilly Climate’ Greets Muslim University Students: Report” —CBC.ca

Black Ones Are Cooler-Looking, Though: “’Green’ Autos Are Sleek, Fun to Drive” —Express-News (San Antonio, TX)

It’s New Jersey, After All: “Crook Is Newest Judge in Burlington County” —Courier-Post (Cherry Hill, NJ)

What Would We Do Without… Oh, Look! A Squirrel!: “Studies Focus on Wandering Thoughts” —CBC.ca

Then THEM Not Be Coming Neither: “SC Tourism Director: US Not Be Welcoming Foreign Visitors” —WBT-AM website (Charlotte, NC)

Bottom Stories of the Day: “Pampers Are Not an Invention of the Devil” —Times (London) ++ “Giant Lighted Map of Iowa Found, and It Can Be Saved” —Des Moines (IA) Register (Thanks to The Wall Street Journal’s James Taranto)

VILLAGE IDIOTS

From the Village Glitterati: “You [President Bush]… and the smarmy pundits you have in your pocket can take your war and shove it! Let’s unite not only in stopping this war, but in holding this administration accountable… Iraq is not our toilet… We do support our troops, but not the exploitation of them and their families.” —actor Sean Penn, engaging in the exploitation of our troops and their families

Somehow, this is fitting: “Thank you for coming tonight to help celebrate Elton [John] joining my favorite club—the 60-year-olds’ club. I love it every time he plays. He reminds me we still have some youth left.” —First Lady hopeful Bill Clinton introducing Elton John at Madison Square Garden

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!: “We buy green energy, we do not contribute to the problem that I’m joining with others to try to help solve. We pay more for clean energy.” —Algore on his Nashvile mansion

From the “religion of peace”: “The time for the chastisement of Allah is here.” —Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, who has now lent his support to Iran’s nuclear weapons program

Going off half-cocked: “This is not about personal freedom—getting shot in the workplace by someone who has retrieved a gun from the parking lot is the opposite of freedom. This is about preserving the ability of companies to make workplaces as safe as they can be, and free from gun violence.” —Paul Helmke, President of the Brady Campaign on state legislatures contemplating the restoration of 2nd Amendment rights stripped away by PC companies

SHORT CUTS

“Hillary Clinton… can call herself the JFK of the race all she likes, but that doesn’t make her look even remotely like that cool and ironic practitioner of politics. It makes her look like a ditzy poseur.” —Peggy Noonan

“Today, many people preen about their anger as a badge of authenticity: I snarl, therefore I am. Such people make one’s blood boil.” —George Will

“U.S. troops blew up a bomb factory in Iraq during a crackdown. There will never be a free government in Iraq as long as there are factories making bombs. Our work won’t be done until they’ve moved all their manufacturing to China.” —Argus Hamilton

“Katie Couric is not a hard-nosed newsperson. She doesn’t even play one on TV, at least when the subject is a Democrat.” —Rich Galen

“Americans spend an extra $2.2 billion on gas a year because they’re overweight, requiring more fuel in cars to carry the extra pounds. So even with all those [’carbon offsets’], Gore may have a small carbon footprint, but he has a huge carbon butt-print.” —Ann Coulter

“When you visit Britain, you realize that although it is a normal country in many ways, some things about it are deeply odd—for instance, they drive on the left, they use the metric system, and their language, while deceptively similar to English, is often incomprehensible.” —James Taranto

David Letterman: “Top Signs It’s Spring In New York City”: Tourists are getting mugged for their decongestant; The subways smell like urine and Starbucks iced coffee; Instead of convenience stores, thieves are sticking up Jamba Juice; Rosie O’Donnell has started a feud with her allergist; Katie Couric is doing the news in a tank top and hot pants; Donald Trump’s hair has begun to bloom; Stranded JetBlue passengers are on the tarmac in lawn chairs.

Jay Leno: I love when they say this [attorney firing business] is a constitutional crisis. Oh, please. We haven’t used the Constitution in years. … It is officially spring. Al Gore blamed the end of winter on global warming. … Al Gore returned to Congress. Everyone said Al Gore was treated like a rock star. I think the rock star was Meat Loaf. … Al Gore testified that if we act now, we can still save the planet. Well, the whole planet except Florida. He’s still a little upset. … Hillary and Bill Clinton appeared together at a fundraiser in New York last weekend. They’re appearing together again this weekend. Bill wants to be there to support her campaign. She wants Bill there because it’s Spring Break. … Former presidential candidate Tom Vilsack says he’s now officially endorsing Hillary Clinton. Well, that should put her over the top! Unless, of course, Walter Mondale comes out for Dennis Kucinich—then it’s wide open again. … According to a new poll, 29 percent of U.S. households do not have Internet access and have little hope of getting it. You know what the technical name is for people with no hope of Internet access? AOL customers. … There was a big scare at the John Edwards campaign headquarters. It was evacuated after a staff member opened an envelope containing white powder. Turns out it was just some of John Edwards’ age-defying make-up base. … I guess in Al Gore’s office they found some white powder too. But that was just from his powdered doughnuts.

Veritas vos Liberabit—Semper Vigilo, Fortis, Paratus, et Fidelis! Mark Alexander, Publisher, for The Patriot’s editors and staff. (Please pray for our Patriot Armed Forces standing in harm’s way around the world, and for their families—especially families of those fallen Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen, who have died in defense of American liberty, while prosecuting the war with Jihadistan.)