The American Spectator

Reader Mail

p> RUNNING SCARED br> Re: Lawrence Henry's Victory, Yes, But ... /p>

What is it about so many columns posted today where the writers have run up the white flag regarding Iraq? Baker/Hamilton and every other "has been" screw up must be breaking arms patting themselves on the back. The same goes for the vocal Bush haters, the NYT leading parade of "MSM," etc. They're congratulating themselves on still being "relevant" and calling the shots. Hmmmmm...even at the Spectator the beat goes on.

p>You scaredy cats from the D.C. area and along the Northeast section of this great country should really spend time in the West where the buffalo still roam and cowboys actually still ride the range. Many of us who live here still think a code of ethics is appropriate. Perhaps your frustration with our current President who seems to honor these, is that he has them at all. The sniping continues about his speech patterns and his "mental capacities". Gosh, a President who says exactly what he means....think of that! A regional comment is "aw shucks, don't that beat all?" Yup it sure does in the long run. Even the negatives coming out of the Spectator . br> -- Edda Gahm br> Diamond Bar, California /p>

As you say, Mr. Henry, he (the President) is just not a talker. The one thing we need is the one thing we do not have. The press, however, especially the NYT, is full of talkers. As the comedian Henny Youngman might have said, "Take Frank Rich -- -- please!" Mr. Rich may be the least evolved lump of protoplasm on the planet, but he's a talker. His latest, "We have lost in Iraq." Whether we have or haven't, how would Frank Rich know? Sure, he WANTS us to LOSE, but that doesn't make it so. On the other hand, for those of us who want to WIN, saying so won't make it so either. So, where does that leave us?

The President has the one pulpit from which not only SAYING SOMETHING, but DOING SOMETHING, makes a difference. He could, for example, SAY that he's taken the Iraq Study Poop's report under advisement and is considering the next best course of action. Then, he could DO SOMETHING, like order special forces to neutralize Muqtada al-Sadr by helping him accidentally slip in the shower (if he ever takes one), send 50,000 more troops in to quell the insurgency and secure Baghdad, have some B2s begin circling daily over Tehran just out of range of those nifty new defense missiles our friends in Russia recently provided, and send a message to Assad that it might be prudent for him to consider riding on a bicycle, instead of in a car, for the next several months.

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