American Republic Online

The Prime Minister of Australia comments on the US Congress’ recent vote to for a timetable in Iraq:

“I think it is wrong, and I don’t think it is doing anything other than giving great comfort and encouragement to Al-Qaeda and the insurgency in Iraq,” Howard said.

“They are looking at all this, they read newspapers, they see it on television and they say, ‘The American domestic resolve is weakening, therefore we should maintain our resolve.’

“If there is a perception of an America defeat in Iraq, that will leave the whole of the Middle East in great turmoil and will be an enormous victory for terrorism.”

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I’m watching the Democrat presidential debate right now, and it has been mostly what one would expect: no one is answering the questions, etc.

But one thing struck me: former senator Gravel said that (this is as close to verbatim as I can remember): “We have had terrorists with us for forever, and we will have them until the end; what good is it to go to war with them? It’s like the war on drugs.” Well, by the same reasoning, let’s substitute “poverty” for “terrorists:”

“We have had poverty with us for forever, and we will have it until the end; what good is it to go to war with it?”

UPDATE: apparently, ARO isn’t the only one to take notice of Gravel: the Instapundit has more.

A sociopath, a gun control advocate, and a law-abiding citizen are sitting at a bar…

U.S. tax receipts have reached a new one-day record.  Again.  Last year’s record was $36.4 billion.  This year the U.S. Treasury collected $48.7 billion in one day from individuals.  That’s a 34% increase year over year.  Last September, a record for total tax receipts was achieved-including those from businesses.  ARO contrasted that with the big hullaballoo over Exxon’s record profit of $36 billion for the whole year.

And they need more of our money in order to balance the budget?  In the words of the esteemed John Stossel, give me a break.

Potential future presidential candidate Fred Thompson defends his past votes in the Senate:

Adhering to the principles of federalism is not easy. As one who was on the short end of a couple of 99-1 votes, I can personally attest to it. Federalism sometimes restrains you from doing things you want to do. You have to leave the job to someone else — who may even choose not to do it at all. However, if conservatives abandon this valued principle that limits the federal government, or if we selectively use it as a tool with which to reward our friends and strike our enemies, then we will be doing a disservice to our country as well as the cause of conservatism. 

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Senator Lieberman spells it out for us in language even politicians can understand (thanks Chris):

Al-Qaeda, after all, isn’t carrying out mass murder against civilians in the streets of Baghdad because it wants a more equitable distribution of oil revenue. Its aim in Iraq isn’t to get a seat at the political table; it wants to blow up the table — along with everyone seated at it.

Certainly al-Qaeda can be weakened by isolating it politically. But even after the overwhelming majority of Iraqis agree on a shared political vision, there will remain a hardened core of extremists who are dedicated to destroying that vision through horrific violence. These forces cannot be negotiated or reasoned out of existence. They must be defeated.

The challenge before us, then, is whether we respond to al-Qaeda’s barbarism by running away, as it hopes we do — abandoning the future of Iraq, the Middle East and ultimately our own security to the very people responsible for last week’s atrocities — or whether we stand and fight.

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Alberto Gonzales recently testified before Congress about the firing of 8 US Attorneys.  Incredible.  Never mind Clinton’s house cleaning in 1993 (93 were dismissed).  In fact, Senator Clinton claims that “Democrats have accused the Justice Department and the White House of purging the prosecutors for political reasons.”  To put it colloquially, “DUH!”  The US Attorneys serve at the whim and pleasure of the President.  If he decides he wants to fire them, that is his prerogative.   If it was important that they not be appointed positions, then make them that way.  Even Clinton remarks that “presidents appoint prosecutors of their own party.”  That sounds political to me.  Does it really matter that they were not immediately dismissed when Bush took office?

Your editor waited so long to comment on this ridiculous display because he expected a reaction from the White House.  It is now apparent that none is forthcoming.  At least, not one that make any sense.  It is absolutely incredible that the White House allows such things to happen.  All Gonzales has to do is play the role of so many parents in our great nation and say “Because he’s the President, and he said so.”  Instead, he goes with hat in hand and acts like a child walking in after curfew.

However, thankfully, nothing is likely to come of this.  As ARO stated last November, all we should expect from the current class of legislators is a continual series of “investigations” and “hearings” and other such nonsense.  This is not the first, and it most certainly will not be the last.  (Just think of what 2008 will be like…)  And Congress wonders why the general public holds them in such low-regard.

Harry Reid has backed away from his earlier comments:

The Nevada Democrat did not repeat the assertion in his prepared speech, saying that “The military mission has long since been accomplished. The failure has been political. It has been policy. It has been presidential.”

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“this war is lost” - Majority Leader Senator Harry Reid

Hard to believe that THE most senior member of congress and the Democratic party could utter those words - ok, maybe not that hard to believe. Here’s more from the story:

The war in Iraq “is lost” and a US troop surge is failing to bring peace to the country, the leader of the Democratic majority in the US Congress, Harry Reid, said Thursday.

“I believe … that this war is lost, and this surge is not accomplishing anything, as is shown by the extreme violence in Iraq this week,” Reid told journalists.

… I believe the war at this stage can only be won diplomatically, politically and economically.”

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