Loserman no More

The MSM has trumpeted every utterance (except the embarrassing ones) of Cindy Sheehan. Our own N&O runs a weekly John Edwards lovefest item and the MSM gobbles up his "I was wrong (and a political opportunist)" columns and speeches. And lately the left has tried to lionize John Murtha after he called for (but did not vote for) the beginning of an immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq.

So let's see how the anti-Bushies report on Joe Lieberman's latest pronouncements and writings, including today's featured OpEd in the WSJ.

I have just returned from my fourth trip to Iraq in the past 17 months and can report real progress there. More work needs to be done, of course, but the Iraqi people are in reach of a watershed transformation from the primitive, killing tyranny of Saddam to modern, self-governing, self-securing nationhood--unless the great American military that has given them and us this unexpected opportunity is prematurely withdrawn.
_____

Here is an ironic finding I brought back from Iraq. While U.S. public opinion polls show serious declines in support for the war and increasing pessimism about how it will end, polls conducted by Iraqis for Iraqi universities show increasing optimism. Two-thirds say they are better off than they were under Saddam, and a resounding 82% are confident their lives in Iraq will be better a year from now than they are today. What a colossal mistake it would be for America's bipartisan political leadership to choose this moment in history to lose its will and, in the famous phrase, to seize defeat from the jaws of the coming victory.

__________

I cannot say enough about the U.S. Army and Marines who are carrying most of the fight for us in Iraq. They are courageous, smart, effective, innovative, very honorable and very proud. After a Thanksgiving meal with a great group of Marines at Camp Fallujah in western Iraq, I asked their commander whether the morale of his troops had been hurt by the growing public dissent in America over the war in Iraq. His answer was insightful, instructive and inspirational: "I would guess that if the opposition and division at home go on a lot longer and get a lot deeper it might have some effect, but, Senator, my Marines are motivated by their devotion to each other and the cause, not by political debates."
Thank you, General. That is a powerful, needed message for the rest of America and its political leadership at this critical moment in our nation's history. Semper Fi.

__________________

Back in 2000 I was one of those outraged at the actions of the Gore-Lieberman team, in particular their attempt to deny the vote to our service members deployed overseas. I laughed along at the Sore-Loserman bumper stickers, but after reading Lieberman's opinions on Iraq, and being aware of his consistent stand on the issue as opposed to the flopping of other leaders of his party, I will call him Loserman no more (especially in comparison to scum like the cartoonist derided by Michelle Malkin here).
Joe Lieberman