Decision ‘08

My Faith in the Republic is Renewed

Democrats fumed last week at Vice President Cheney’s suggestion that criticism of the administration’s war policies was itself becoming a hindrance to the war effort. But a new poll indicates most Americans are sympathetic to Cheney’s point.

Seventy percent of people surveyed said that criticism of the war by Democratic senators hurts troop morale — with 44 percent saying morale is hurt “a lot,” according to a poll taken by RT Strategies. Even self-identified Democrats agree: 55 percent believe criticism hurts morale, while 21 percent say it helps morale.

The results surely will rankle many Democrats, who argue that it is patriotic and supportive of the troops to call attention to what they believe are deep flaws in President Bush’s Iraq strategy. But the survey itself cannot be dismissed as a partisan attack. The RTs in RT Strategies are Thomas Riehle, a Democrat, and Lance Tarrance, a veteran GOP pollster.

Their poll also indicates many Americans are skeptical of Democratic complaints about the war. Just three of 10 adults accept that Democrats are leveling criticism because they believe this will help U.S. efforts in Iraq. A majority believes the motive is really to “gain a partisan political advantage.”

30% believe the Democrats are, in other words, being loyal in their opposition. Not 30% of Republicans, mind you - 30% of Americans…and more than half of Democrats think they’re hurting morale!

Oh, and Cindy Sheehan’s latest Crawford protest draw a staggering 100 people (hey, Frank Rich! What happened? I thought Cindy had shamed us all into submission!)…more on those protests here from our good friend Ryan James…

It’s going to be a good December…

3 Responses to “My Faith in the Republic is Renewed”

1 too many steves Says:
November 28th, 2005 at 6:32 am
Comforting news, that, but these sorts of polls are meaningful only to the politics of the situation. If we really wanted to answer the question “Does criticism of the Administration’s Iraq policy hurt troop morale?” we should poll the troops. That a majority of Americans think it does doesn’t make it so. Likewise, the deposing of Saddam, abortion on demand, the death penalty, gun ownership, and torture are not right or wrong based solely on the result of American public opinion. Which is one reason our democratic republic form of government is vastly superior to a pure democracy. But I digress.

As to the politics, well, this is good news indeed. A majority of Americans see the Democrats for the carping, manipulative, and cynical bunch that they have proved themselves to be: and we will all be better for knowing this. I suspect that the seminal moment arrived when the Republicans called their (and Murtha’s) bluff on setting a date for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq. Did the Democrats really believe that we would agree with them that “immediate withdrawal” is different from “withdrawal at a practicable time” in any realistic sense? Hmmmm…. I suppose they did.
2 Clint Says:
November 28th, 2005 at 7:31 am
Americans just aren’t nuanced enough for the Democrats.

They (Dems) certainly must be craving the good old days when Americans could be persuaded that a simple, one-syllable word like “is” might have ambiguous meanings. Now they can’t even confuse the populace about a big four-syllable word like “immediate”.

Perhaps that should be their new slogan on credit card debt: that nasty notice that says “remit payment immediately to avoid prosecution” really means pay when you can.
3 AcademicElephant Says:
November 28th, 2005 at 8:25 am
Did you see the photos of Cindy’s book signing? The tables do appear to be turning and it occurs to me that they really mismanaged the timing of this thing for th 2006 election. What will they do if there’s a swelling backlash of patriotism?

You’re right about December. Gas prices going down, stock market going up, more elections in Iraq–heck if we can just get Zarqawi it will be merry and bright. Ho ho ho, sez I.