Draft on Tap

Democrats Cannot Help Themselves

Let me bring you back to a kinder, gentler time in American political history. The year was 2004, and a young man named George W. Bush was a month away from being re-elected president of a small country, north of Mexico. The opposition party, led by heart-throb John Kerry, knew their chances of winning were equal to their chances of convincing the public that Ted Kennedy was sickened by substance abuse. Ah, those were the days.

Representative Charles Rangel (D-NY) took time from his busy schedule of wasting taxpayers’ money on needless social programs to audaciously claim that the President intended to institute a draft as soon as he was re-elected. This charge was leveled roughly the same time two years later. At that time a story about the inappropriate Instant Messaging habits of a closeted gay congressman would magically appear. Even though the people who released them, under the pretense of wanting only the safety of Congressional Pages to be considered, waited six months after obtaining the transcripts of the afore mentioned IM’s to put them out.

Failing to cite any sources or provide any evidence, Rangel forged ahead in his crusade to rid the world of the deplorable concept that a nation ought to ask its young people to defend and protect the freedom prior generations have so heroically die and fought for. Disregard the fact that Bush had no such intention, the fact that Rangel’s favorite kind of men are ones made of “straw,” and focus on the detail that Rangel was using the idea of a draft to scare voters away from Republicans. This will be important later, so commit it to memory.

Fast forward two years and two months and you’ll find a very different political landscape. The Democrats have captured the House and Senate, riding the waves of bitterness and contempt that many Americans feel towards the on-going wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Charlie Rangel is set to Chair the powerful “Ways and Means” committee. This is where monetary and spending agendas are approved or disapproved for submission to the entire House for discussion and voting. Let’s just say, it is an important position.

It seems Charles is in charge of our Ways and our Means.

In his hope to avoid fighting the winds of change in Washington D.C., Rangel has flipped and flopped his way to the opposite side of his previous argument with Bush. Apparently Congressmen Rangel no longer seeks to avoid the draft to level the playing field in Iraq in terms of who serves, but now he is all for it. Appearing on CNN’s Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer, Rangel said the time has come for rich, white men to stop sending poor boys from the ghetto and the farm to fight their (America’s) wars.

His solution is a draft where all men and women are created equal. The very same type of draft that was terrifying and corruptible when Bush was supposed to have desired it’s institution. Back in 2004, Rangel said a draft was simply a way for rich people to get their kids out of fighting. He used it as a political ploy to take votes away from George and give them to John. So, what is his goal now?

Rangel’s view is common among Democrats in power. He believes that the military is comprised of poor, stupid, gullible, malleable, suckers who know no better than to foolishly honor their country by volunteering their brave service to protect its citizens. But, he cannot have it both ways.

Our military is the smartest, most well equiped volunteer fighting force the world has ever known. Re-enlistment rates are at all-time highs. Somehow John Kerry and Charles Rangel have turned the definition of an English word, “volunteer”, up side down. Perhaps Clinton’s lawyers are at it again.

More importantly, Rangel is using his own arguments against himself. His reasoning is that if these rich people in Washington knew their own kids would have to go, they’d be slower to confront evil and tyranny around the world for the betterment of the United States and Mankind. Two years ago it was the same rich people who were demented enough to be considering the idea. Now it is their dementia that is causing their shortsightedness in their failure to see the necessity of a draft.

In neither of these circumstances have the Republicans even responded to the ridiculous accusations and claims from the elderly Rangel. But, the press has latched on to in both instances to press an issue that is not even on the table. Or, how about the fact that Wolf Blitzer never questioned Rangel on the fact that he had such different views one election ago?

The kicker in all of this is the fact that Rangel has already voted against legislation that would reinstate the draft that he himself brought to the floor of Congress. The Republicans called Rangel’s bluff in October of 2004 when Tom Delay pushed the bill penned by Charlie to a vote. So not only was Rangel lying to Americans that Bush was the one who planned to bring the draft back, he was also leaving out the fact that he was actually the one with the idea. The icing on this cake was when his bill lost 402-2, neither of the two votes were from the mastermind behind the plan.

The merits of a draft or some sort of required service for American youth can be debated at a later time. The important thing to take away today is that the draft is not necessary as of now. Democrats are using it as a political chip in the crazy game of poker that is Washington D.C. Charlie Rangel should spend the time and energy he does complaining about the shortcomings of our Armed Forces on commending the amazing men and women who do volunteer to keep all of us safe.

Land of the Free because of the Brave.

Quite A Guy

My Vote for Man of the Year:
Donald Rumsfeld (1932-Present)


Donald Rumsfeld is one of the greatest figures of our time – certainly of the last decade.

My statement may puzzle you. Isn’t he the disgraced Secretary of Defense who just stepped down in the aftermath of a Democratic tidal wave? Isn’t he the architect of a failed policy in Iraq? Isn’t his resignation a great day for all Americans? That’s what the dinosaur media would have you believe.

Let me see if I can set the record straight.

The man from Chicago (and a graduate of my high school New Trier) began his second tenure as Secretary of Defense in 2001. Early in the post-9/11 world of the War on Terror, he was heralded as a great leader with the every-man quality of a Harry Truman. His quick, decisive response to the terrorist attacks led to a lightning swift victory toppling the Taliban government in Afghanistan with minimal casualties.

He holds the distinction of being the only man to serve two different terms as Secretary of Defense (being both the youngest and the oldest man to serve in that position). Known to friends’ simply as “Rummy” he has served his country almost continuously since 1954. It was that year he began his professional career as a Navy Pilot ultimately retiring from the Reserve at the rank of Captain. This Princeton graduate was elected to four terms as the Congressional Representative from Illinois’ 13th District from 1964-1968. Rumsfeld served in one capacity or another under six different Presidents. Heck, he was even an Eagle Scout.

Despite this distinguished record of service on November 8, 2006, Rumsfeld found himself unemployed.

How did it happen? After the Republicans suffered a major defeat in the Congressional races it was determined that the party was in need of some “mixing up” in leadership from top to bottom in order to gear up for the 2008 Presidential run. Rumsfeld, being the class act he always is, graciously stepped down. While some feel he had overstayed his welcome, others, me included, could not help but feel that Rummy deserved a better fate than this.

It is not just the fact that Rumsfeld is such an accomplished, effective leader, but more than that we lost someone who, despite his critics, truly contributed to our nation’s welfare. As the CEO of the Department of Defense (DOD for those 24 fans) Rumsfeld orchestrated the military campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq. Under his watch America soldiers bravely helped free over 50 million people in the Middle East, people who were previously reduced to living under totalitarian dictatorships. His soldiers accomplished more while sacrificing less than any other Congressionally approved military venture in American history. (Emphasis on “Congressionally approved”.)

Early on in the War on Terror, Rumsfeld though never loved, was deeply respected by those in the media who covered the Department of Defense. His lively press conferences were informative and substantive. Rumsfeld could describe complex issues in laymen’s terms and to do it in style. During those early years his generals were winning on the ground and he was winning the critical war of words in public discourse. He talked; people listened.

But, as with Secretary Robert McNamara in 1968 in Vietnam, the public grew weary of a war with no clear end in sight. The mistakes that occur in any war were broadcasted daily and the “man in front” had to take the blame. But is that fair? After all, his job each day was to manage a war his boss (The President) decided on, his generals approved of, and his soldiers volunteered to fight in. Was it his fault that Iraq was still a cauldron of insurgent and sectarian violence?

If Rummy was doing a rotten job or running things you would never have known it by the enthusiastic and warm welcome he received each time he visited our troops in Iraq or met with American and Iraqi commanders. Standing ovations and cheers greeted him every time he set foot in the country we were supposedly “bogged down” in. The troops knew he had their best interest in mind, regardless of what the press printed or the Democrats decided to shout from the grandstands.

In his farewell press conference Rummy said several things that are worth remembering.

That Wednesday morning he reminded us that the War on Terror is a complex one and therefore can be easily misunderstood by many. Rumsfeld predicted (and I think rightly so) that in the coming years history will reveal that he and the President made the right, and only, choice they could have made. The invasion of Iraq was necessary, despite its messy and still unresolved aftermath.

He stood by his decisions and thanked the President for being the leader he has been since our country was attacked in September of 2001. You could see from the emotion on his face that day that his term as Secretary of Defense had come to mean a great deal to him. How could it not?

Rumsfeld has nothing to apologize for to the American people. He has led an incredible life of public service and performed his honorable duty for more than 50 years. He has received numerous awards including in 1977 he received the highest civilian award possible -- the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

The last six of his public career were strenuous, tumultuous times yet he showed resolve and determination. Say what you will about the guy, but one thing Rumsfeld is not is fickle. He stood with his Commander-in-Chief through feast and famine. He actively sought changes and succeeded in helping our military transform itself with new technological capabilities, tactics and personnel to face a new breed of evil.

History will be kinder to Donald Rumsfeld than the current public sentiment is – he was a giant in his time who was not able to see his policies through to final victory – but when those policies in the Middle East eventually serve to help bring peace, stability, and democratic reform to the region -- then he will be judged by history as one of America’s truly visionary leaders.

For what you did accomplish the Iraqi, Afghani, and American people all thank you, Mr. Rumsfeld. You’re my vote for Man of the Year.


(Soon to come: Defense of why I think the war in Iraq is absolutely necessary and winnable.)

Who You Kidding?

The Democrats' call for compromise is fooling NO ONE

Nancy Pelosi was recently quoted as saying that what Congress really needs is, “a woman to clean things up in Washington.” She says the discourse in the Beltway has become too mean-spirited and petty, and that it has made things difficult for anything beneficial to get done. According to her, too many have held needless grudges and gossiped behind each other’s backs which has led to a stagnant government.

Yep, sounds like a woman is the sensible choice to set those wrongs, right…right? What was I thinking? She’s perfect for the job! Why not really straighten things out and hire Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie to head the Ethics Committee?

Putting accurate gender assertions aside, what we hear from soon-to-be Speaker of the House Pelosi is that it has been the Republicans (Bush) who have dragged the debate on policies into the gutter we find it now.

Why is it when Democrats scream that the President is a liar, threaten to philibuster qualified judicial nominees, and run television ads suggesting that Republicans who are against embryonic stem-cell research get their jollies from watching Marty McFly convulse in discomfort, it is labeled as “good old fashioned politics”?

Pelosi herself called the President a “fool” and “totally incompetent” on the recent campaign trail. Now that she is in power the time has come for fair play and for Republicans to dial down their vitriolic rhetoric.

You know, like Senator Patrick Leahey (D-VT) this summer comparing the Republican’s support of holding enemy combatants at Guantanomo Bay to pre-war Nazi Germany when the government began to grant Hitler power to arrest Jews without cause. Then again, that was like, umm, three months ago. This is now, and that was then.

Harry Reid was elected Senate Majority Leader on Tuesday to no surprise, other than the promise to work with the new minority party to get things done. Reid called for a truce with Senate Republicans and asked more moderate GOP members to meet the Dem's half way on important issues that face our country, for the sake of the people. Where was that offer in 2000, 2002, 2004, and 2006 up until November 8th? Note that by “meeting half way” he’s saying half way between moderate and flaming left.

The truth is the Democrats have had every chance to work with Republicans to accomplish what should be bi-partisan goals such as national security and a stronger economy.

The voting for Supreme Court judges last year was a perfect example of a time Reid could have led the charge for cooperation with the elected majority. Reid, Hillary, Schumer, Kerry, and Kennedy put up the fight of their lives to prevent over-qualified nominees Alito and Roberts from ever sitting on the most powerful bench in the land.

It is the constitutionally appointed privilege of the President to select whom he wants in judicial positions at the Federal levels. The Senate is mandated to merely “advise and consent”. I am not sure Jefferson and Madison and the boys meant that to look like a world-class grilling of respected nominees to the point that their wife has to remove herself because she’s been reduced to tears due to the mean-spirited way in which Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee questioned her husband.

Compare this with the nomination process surrounding President Clinton’s choice of Ruth Bader Ginsburg in the mid-90’s. The Republicans had the majority in the House and Senate and could have made things real uncomfortable for Ruthie and Willy, but they respected the right the President has to nominate who they see fit. Republicans even looked pass the fact that Ginsburg’s prior gig was as the lead counsel for the ACLU!!! Are you kidding me? If that is the standard for what the Democrats a decade later would call a “mainstream candidate” then Ann Coulter should be Bush’s next pick.

Not all Republicans play fair and politics is a dirty game on both sides. Actually, I don’t understand why anyone wants to put himself or herself through the process of running and serving in Congress. It is a tough racket. But, the Democrats have had six years to compromise on important issues for the betterment of our country and most have declined each opportunity emphatically. Another prime example of this was the social security debate that ensued after the 2004 election.

Bush proposed an idea that Harry Reid himself presented on the floor of the Senate less than 8 years earlier. Both Reid and President Bush agreed that Social Security needed fixing and that the best way to handle it is to let the people have the option to invest the money that would otherwise go into the “black hole” that is Social Security.

This means that the government is less involved, the return rates are exponentially higher, and citizens won’t have to wait for a check from Uncle Sam to get by later in life. For those who still had trouble with finances after retirement, Bush’s plan would help provide extra resources for those needs. Sounds like a no-brainer, right?

Not so fast my friend.

Senator Reid had the audacity to vehemently condemn the plan after publicly supporting it a few years earlier. This is inconsistent at best and pathetic at least. Why couldn’t Reid and other Democrats look past their disdain for President Bush and accomplish something that would help to fix a serious leak in the sinking ship of American fiscal policy?

I don’t expect either side to budge on their beliefs, but to patronize the entire country by claiming your sole desire has been to work with Republicans, after fighting tooth-n-nail for six years on every single minute issue, let alone crucial legislation like the Patriot Act, is deplorable and dishonest.

Just remember when you hear Pelosi and Reid in the following weeks and months calling for Republicans to work with the Democrats because, “the people demand it,” that they are the reason that call has been made.

Wish they’d picked it up a few years earlier.

"Left" Behind

Thoughts: The Morning After


Well, we did it. The Republicans fell on their own proverbial swords in true Samurai fashion. With five years of safety from terrorist attacks, a booming economy, and the numbers in Congress to enact border security, permanent tax cuts, and marriage amendments the GOP got theirs’ handed to them.

I hope you’re happy, Mark Foley.

I’ll be the first in a long line of people who should admit their mistake in assuming that Republicans would hold both Houses of Congress. Like any good Cubs fan, my optimism got the best of me. If the Republicans fail to win back power for nigh a hundred years, and I am still “rooting” for them, then I deserve unflavored Metamucil three times a day.

Exit polls are showing that the “Culture of Corruption” mantra propagated by Democratic leaders like Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), as well as the continuing struggle in Iraq, struck a chord with many undecided voters.

I am not bitter. Unlike Democrats after the elections in 2000, 2002, and 2004, I will not need to seek counseling (there were actually thousands of documented treatments for Post Traumatic Election Syndrome, as pathetic as that was) nor will I be prone to fits of unprovoked. I lay the blame for the humiliating defeat on no one…except my own party.

Ann Coulter’s latest syndicated piece points out that the average midterm loss for a sitting party is 30 House seats and 6 Senate seats. In 2002, Bush picked up 6 House seats and 2 Senatorial ones. He was the first President since the Civil War to do so. He also picked up seats in both Houses in 2004. I mention this purely for context. The loss the GOP suffered yesterday was anything but unprecedented. Perhaps the reason it hurts so much is because Republicans have defied the odds and many of us hoped their good luck-streak would hold up just one more time.

Some Conservative voices such as Michael Savage and Michael Barone (U.S. News & World Report) have commented it was perhaps a good thing that we lost yesterday. Two years of Democrats raising taxes, cutting funding for National Security budgets, and generally making nuisances of themselves might be just what the American people need to elect a strong conservative President in 2008. This will only likely happen if the GOP learns from their mistakes of the past two years.

Where do we go from here?

First, the “culture of corruption” mantra must be silenced by effective Republican leaders actually leading their party. It is not enough to point fingers back at the Democrats to expose the planks in their eyes. The dinosaur mainstream media loves a Republican scandal so we need to stop providing them with new ones. Furthermore, the media will always minimize, ignore, or quickly forget a liberal caught in scandal. For example, Harry Reid (D-NV; voted for zoning restrictions that benefited him in a private business deal to the tune of nearly $1 million dollars) and William Jefferson (D-LA; over $90,000 in cash that was found by FBI agents in his home’s freezer, wrapped in tinfoil during a raid) both somehow escaped the wrath of the Washington Post and New York Times. We need to quit complaining about the hypocrisy, the liberal media is driven by ideology not fairness so don’t expect a fair shake. Rather, as conservatives we need to live true to our ideals and stay out of trouble (and thus the headlines).

Second, we need to fight the “wrong ideas” not the “wrong people”. Conservatives still make up the largest voting block in the country by all accounts. This means this election those “values voters” either stayed home or voted for other candidates to register their disgust (Independents or Moderate Democrats). The values issues are what matter to Conservatives. Pro-life, pro-gun, strong National Defense, small government, and lower taxes are the pillars on which Reagan and others built their revolution some thirty years ago. It will work again if we stay focused, ignore the criticism from the Left and push hard on our agenda.

2008 needs to produce candidates at every level who are unafraid to take on the border security issue as well as stand up for the lesser issues such as keeping “In God We Trust” on our money and in our Pledge of Allegiance. (Assuming Liberal Democrats haven’t voted to change our money to read, “One nation, under whatever higher power you may or may not ascribe to…”)

Finally, we need to keep smiling and believe we will live to fight another day – and this time shall prevail. Just because Charles Rangel (D-NY) is chairing the powerful House Ways and Means committee the sun won’t refuse to shine. The GOP is the party that turned American around 25 years ago when Ronal Wilson Reagan took the oath of office. The movement he started is not dead, only temporarily setback and in need of fresh and energetic leadership. America is still the greatest nation on God’s green earth.

Start building for future victory be deciding today to get involved. Take time each day or week to read more than this one blog (as informative and engaging as it is). For every segment of Fox News you watch, log some man hours on CNN or (P)MSNBC. Once you’ve read Time and Newsweek pick up The Weekly Standard and National Review.

Don’t let any one media outlet dictate the information you get. Ideas matter – so study them all. In the end the best ideas will triumph. They always do. That’s why I’m nothing but hopeful about the future for Conservatives. Our day has just begun…

A Freudian Slip

Why John Kerry Will Cost Democrats The Election

The words we say are now more important than what is being said. It’s not what you say, but all in how you say it. If that is the standard that Liberals from Paris to San Francisco wish to hold us all too, then John Kerry must be accountable for his own foolish comments this week.

Kerry was speaking to students at a community college in California at a rally for gubernatorial candidate Phil Angelides on Monday when the egregious comments were made.

"You know, education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. And if you don't, you get stuck in Iraq," he said.

A day later the Liberal spinsters were in “Abort” mode all day as they tried to find a way to make Kerry’s comments seem less foolish and/or offensive. We are being told that it was Kerry’s poor attempt at a jab directed towards President Bush. This is either untrue or stupid.

If it is simply a mishap, then Kerry wins the Carrot-Top “Un-funniest Human on the Planet” award. President Bush graduated from Yale as an undergrad and from Harvard with an M.B.A. President Bush also finished with a higher GPA than Senator Kerry so I guess it could be said that if you work hard you can be President and if you don’t, you can be a United States Senator.

If Kerry and the Liberal minions are in fact lying, then it ranks up there with the most disgraceful and factually inaccurate statements ever uttered in this or any election. The implication would be that those serving in Iraq are the uneducated in America who have no other choice but to fight and die for their country. This is a common theme amongst Liberals when war comes to town.

The myth that racial and social injustices exist when it comes to who serves in the military has long been a talking point for the Liberal media and Left-leaning “doves” in Congress. Charlie Rangel (D-NY) has consistently voiced his misinformed position that in Iraq it is Blacks and Hispanics who bear the burden of protecting rich, white men back home. Michael Moore made the same claim, minus statistics to prove it, in the infamous Fahrenheit 9/11.

The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and New York Daily News have all done front-page pieces on the disproportionate numbers of poor, urban, and minority service men and women. They claim that to meet recruiting standards, all four branches of the military have lowered their own standards of acceptance. The Heritage Foundation has released studies proving once and for all that the “quality” (which they admit is an arbitrary term) of U.S. soldiers has risen, not declined since the war in Afghanistan began. In fact, the only demographic that has declined since 2001 is the percentage of enlisted men from the lower class. There are more high school, college, and graduate school graduates than ever before in the Army.

So, getting back to Flip-Flop Kerry, he is either lying or lame.

If he meant that Bush is dumb and that it was his stupidity what led him to invade a country that John Kerry himself voted to invade (and made numerous documented appearances on Fox News and CNN attesting to the undeniable need to invade Iraq), then he is not that intelligent. Not only is he less intelligent than President Bush scholastically, he is more so for opening his big yap and even remotely insinuating something negative about troops in wartime this close to a crucial election for his own party.

If I were a Democratic Congressmen trying to un-seat an incumbent Republican, I would be Google-chatting with Kerry’s Press Secretary to ask if Kerry could be so kind as to never speak again in public. In fact, this has already happened as a Congressional Democratic candidate in Iowa revoked an invitation for Kerry to speak today at a rally in Iowa City. And so it begins.

If Kerry was lying, he is unfit, even for being a Senator. To imply that troops are to be pitied and looked down on with disdain is unconscionable. Kerry himself served in Vietnam and then bravely spent the three years after he got back accusing his fellow servicemen of war crimes and atrocities and eventually tossed the war medals that had been his ticket home on the steps of the Capitol building in protest of an “unjust war” that had turned into a “quagmire”.

Doesn’t this guy ever get new material, or is being unpatriotic a recessive gene he can’t help?

The reason Kerry has cost the Democrats control of Congress is that the disenfranchised conservative voters who considered sitting out this election to teach Republicans a “lesson” will now be mobilized. The Foley “scandal” was a tough blow to an already unhappy base, but the thought of electing clowns like Kerry to run things in D.C. is enough to get Middle America out next Tuesday.

Thanks, John.
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A family friend, Kevin Reid, a medic trainer at Great Lakes Naval Base, has served 13 years in the US Navy. While serving full time, at times overseas, he has also earned a B.A. from a university. He received his degree last June after working on it part-time for eight years. He has already started a Master's degree and hopes to get a doctorate. He is a true hero.