Friday - December 08, 2006

Feeding The Alligator

_{Mike Lester - The Rome News-Tribune (GA)}

Feeding the Alligator
-- by Michael Reagan

Does everybody on the planet spend time kicking the president of the United States? I ask this because it seems that we are in the midst of an open season on George W. Bush.

I’ve never seen a presidency where everybody shoots at the president and nobody defends him, except his wife and Tony Snow. People who oppose “waterboarding” the enemy would be happy to see George Bush undergo the ordeal.

He’s not even immune from attacks from people he picks to fill the highest offices in his administration. He’s forced to sit in the Oval Office and watch the man he chose to be secretary of defense publicly disagree with him on nationwide TV by telling Sen. Carl Levin we are losing the war in Iraq, an argument the president rejects out of hand.

It gave us an insight into what was bound to happen with the release of the Iraq Study Group report. The media and the Democrats all jumped on the group’s assertion that Iraq is a God-awful mess, implying that it’s all George Bush’s fault, and coming up with a lot of suggestions that somebody noted could have easily been written by Miss Paris Hilton.

Instead of suggesting that the only way to deal with the massive problems in Iraq—the sectarian violence and the attacks by both foreign and domestic insurgents—is to take the gloves off and come out slugging, the group comes up with recommendations that have nothing to do with winning the war, as that seems to be unthinkable, and everything to do with putting on a good show while we depart.

Without ever coming out and saying it, the study group leaves no doubt that it thinks George Bush is not up to the job and has made a real mess of things that can only be “solved” by such idiotic moves as sitting down and having talks with Syria and Iran, both nations that dream nightly about killing us all and bringing the enlightenment of Islamic law and rule to a world badly in need of Islamic reform.

It’s as Churchill once said about appeasement: it’s a case of feeding the alligator and hoping it will eat you last.

What you see in all of this is that there is a complete lack of support and respect for this president, even from the people he has around him. For Gates to come out and say what he did in the confirmation hearings for the job George Bush has given him, is nothing less than sheer ingratitude – if not open contempt for his benefactor.

And he not only takes issue with the president who has appointed him, but does so with impunity. It doesn’t matter to him that he gave aid and comfort to the enemy. It doesn’t matter to him that it demoralizes the troops in harm’s way in Iraq. It’s all about him saying what will help him be confirmed as the secretary of defense.

He sailed through the hearings and got an almost-unanimous approval from the full Senate – but you have to wonder he would have had it so easy up there on Capitol Hill if he had disagreed with Levin and agreed with the president that we are not losing the war in Iraq. Instead, he told the Democrats and the media what they wanted to hear.

You have to remember that he is a member of the Iraq Study Group and as such has signed on to their report. He comes from a group of people I know well. They all think they are little gods. It’s either their way or no way. They think that they are the be-all and end-all, and the media fawn on them and feed their insatiable egos.

Their new way of dealing with Iraq is to figure out ways to leave. My way is more straightforward and simple: forget pandering to the Left’s pacifist instincts and just go ahead and kill the enemy, every single one of them.

If my Dad had listened to that bunch the Cold War would still be going on, there would have been no strategic defense initiative, and there would be no Ronald Reagan legacy worth a darn. Instead, he hung tough and we won.

---

_{Mike Reagan, the eldest son of the late President Ronald Reagan, is heard on more than 200 talk radio stations nationally as part of the Radio America Network. Look for Mike’s new book “Twice Adopted.” Order autographed books at http://www.reagan.com. Email comments to mereagan@hotmail.com. ©2006 Mike Reagan. If you’re not a paying subscriber to our service, you must contact us to print or web post this column. Mike’s column is distributed exclusively by: Cagle Cartoons, Inc. Cari Dawson Bartley email Cari@cagle.com, (800) 696-7561.}

Posted by The Skipper     on 12/08/2006 at 03:56 AM   
Filed Under: • Editorials •  
• Comments (2) • Trackbacks(1)  Permalink •  

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Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:

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It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

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