Doug Ross @ Journal

Travels with Cheney

The Weekly Standard's Steve Hayes published a lengthy article this week describing his journeys with Dick Cheney (hat tip: PowerLine) during recent tours of Iraq, Afhanistan, and Pakistan. It includes Cheney's vehement denunciation of the Mediacrats -- without naming names -- and their inherent inability to take this war seriously:

There's a temptation for people to sit around and say, well, gee, [9/11] was just a one-off affair, they didn't really mean it. Bottom line is, we've been very active and very aggressive defending the nation and using the tools at our disposal to do that. That ranges from everything to going into Afghanistan and closing down the terrorist camps, rounding up al Qaeda wherever we can find them in the world, to an active robust intelligence program, putting out rewards, the capture of bad guys, and the Patriot Act...Either we're serious about fighting the war on terror or we're not. Either we believe that there are individuals out there doing everything they can to try to launch more attacks, to try to get ever deadlier weapons to use against [us], or we don't. The president and I believe very deeply that there's a hell of a threat, that it's there for anybody who wants to look at it. And that our obligation and responsibility, given our job, is to do everything in our power to defeat the terrorists. And that's exactly what we're doing.

All the more reason that the mediacrats must be kept from the levers of governmental power. They have seen the classified intelligence left unrevealed to the general public. They have seen the reports that represent "a hell of a threat." Yet they continue their partisan backbiting and chicanery, risking everything this country holds dear in a series of constipated attempts to regain political power.

Their unseriousness about the war is represented by Jay Rockefeller, who would rather secrete a note in a safe rather than confront the Attorney General regarding NSA international wiretaps. Or Harry Reid, who gloats that the Democrats have "killed" the Patriot Act. Or Howard Dean, who actively roots against victory in Iraq.

If the Democrats were constructive in their opposition - offering plans and methods for success (on Medicare, Social Security, the War on Terror, anything!) rather than obstructionism, they'd have a heck of a lot better shot in 2006. Today, however, they're the party that stands for one thing: hatred of Bush. And that's not enough to win elections.