On Wednesday, I denounced a New York Post editorial which attacked Howard Dean for saying "The idea that we're going to win this war is an idea that unfortunately is just plain wrong." The Post editorial not only got Dean's quote wrong by omitting the exculpatory word "unfortunately" (as Michael Koplow pointed out in a comment on the post), but engaged in one of the most vicious attacks on dissent since 9/11, directly accusing Dean of seeking to aid terrorists and rooting for America's defeat in Iraq:
Not all the surrender monkeys live in France.
Take Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean — the sedition-mongering former governor of Vermont who once presumed to the presidency and who now is working overtime for a terrorist victory in Iraq.
..."[The] idea that we're going to win the war in Iraq is an idea which is just plain wrong," he said Monday. "Bring the 80,000 National Guard and Reserve troops home immediately. They don't belong in a conflict like this anyway."
Dean doesn't know what he's talking about, on several levels.
The National Guard and Reserves have been an integral part of the Army's "total force" for a generation — there's no bringing them home without collapsing the entire effort in Iraq.
Such an outcome, of course, would be much to Dr. Dean's liking — because, again, it "is just plain wrong" to think "we're going to win the war in Iraq."
...For what Dean did was send an unambiguous message of encouragement to America's mortal enemies both in Iraq and elsewhere around the world.
Hang tough, Dean was telling al Qaeda: You may not be able to defeat the U.S. Army and Marine Corps, but we're doing your work for you right here at home.
Yesterday, the Post went even further in a second editorial, which directly accused Dean of "sedition":
Who are you going to believe: Howard Dean or your own ears?
Dean, the chairman of the Demo cratic National Committee, is backpedaling from the incendiary assertion he made Monday: "The idea we're going to win this war [in Iraq] is an idea that unfortunately is just plain wrong."
The comments have sent Democrats fleeing, and have provided grist for a new GOP ad showing footage of Dean, Nancy Pelosi and John Kerry (all calling for some version of retreat) with a white flag waving in front of them and urging that, "Retreat and defeat is not an option."
So now Dean's claiming he was misunderstood.
Dean's meaning seemed plain enough: Hang in there, terrorists! Time's on your side — the Democrats are seeing to that.
It concludes:
All of this would be comical — if it wasn't encouraging the enemy.
There's an ugly word for that.
Sedition.
This is not idle rhetoric -- it is quite literally an accusation that Dean has committed treason against the United States. Merriam-Webster Online defines "sedition" as "incitement of resistance to or insurrection against lawful authority."
In the long series of attacks on dissent since Sept. 11, the Post joins the New York Sun (which advocated treason prosecutions of protestors against war with Iraq) in a loathsome group: news organizations that have directly attacked Americans' free speech rights.
These are ugly times.
Yes, I agree these are ugly times. However, historians across the US seem to think the Viet Nam era was worse than now. I'm in my late 50's and am quite worried about our country - our rights and our law.
Rose
Posted by: Rose Johnson | December 11, 2005 at 07:36 PM