Traitor

Many Republicans, and Joe Lieberman, have argued in the past, and did again on the Senate floor and in House committee yesterday, that to disagree with the president is to give aid and comfort to the enemy. Which is, by the way, the very definition of treason.

You know who disagrees with them? Only Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who testified before the House Armed Services Committee that "There's no doubt in my mind that the dialogue here in Washington strengthens our democracy. Period."

Oh, and also Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who said that "History is littered with examples of people who underestimated robust debate in Washington D.C. for weakness on the part of America." About the morale of our troops, he said that "As long as this Congress continues to do what it has done, which is to provide the resources for the mission, the dialogue will be the dialogue, and the troops will feel supported." Also, "I think they're sophisticated enough to understand that that's what the debate's really about."

I would go further, of course, and say that it is our president who aids and comforts our enemies, because he gives substance to the very worst assumptions that they make about us, and because his policies increase their ranks and harden their hearts against us.

And I know that there are those who would say that just because we have differences of opinion on policy, and how you implement it, that doesn't mean that BushCo isn't sincere. It doesn't mean that they don't love their country just as much as I do.

Bullshit.

They don't love it as much as I do, because I would not put my own personal drama ahead of my country. I would not send men to war, a war I justified with fear and lies, in order to prove that I could do what my daddy could not. I would not sacrifice the lives and the welfare of millions of Americans in order to line my own pockets and the pockets of my buddies. I would not cheat and maneuver to take the office of leader against the will of the people, and then decide it was more work than I was willing to put in, and leave the pieces to fall where they may.

No, they do not love this country like I do. They do not. And I suggest that those yellow ribbon magnet-sporting BushCo supporters stop waving their Patriot Club cards in our faces, because from where I sit it's about time they got their memberships renewed.