Letters to the Editor
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Those Seventeen Words
Despite all the crap accusations of "not supporting the troops" or even "Treason" (c) Ann Coulter, essentially all Americans were happy to get rid of Saddam Hussein and would have been very pleased with a democratic Iraq that we could have pacified in a few weeks and brought our troops home with minimal casualties, and then move on to a real peace between Israel and the Palestinians, thereby permanently reducing the risk of Islamic terrorism and getting rid of a rogue state whose dictator hated us.
That was Bush's vision, that was what he was selling to us.
And if the result of that success was a permanent Republican majority, that's a risk I am willing to take. I am an American, and I want America to succeed. I have as much of a stake in this country being respected abroad and prosperous at home when Republicans are in office as when Democrats are.
Ultimately, that is what John Wayne was saying in 1960. Olbermann's point, quite simply, is that Bush has forfeited that automatic goodwill. In my opinion, many Republicans, never getting over the 1992 election, did not give Bill Clinton that same benefit of the doubt. The venom spewed over the Kosovo operation by the same people who say that any criticism of the manner in which the leaders at the top have botched Iraq puts our troops in danger takes hypocrisy to degrees beyond most people's comprehension. Oh, Kosovo succeeded. With minimal loss of lives. I guess that's the difference.