The GOP finally Grows a Pair

Thanks for the Memory to Blogs for Bush.

It's about time!

For some time now, those of us who have all along supported the PResident's decision to invade Iraq, and who have defended him against specific claims regarding the war, have bristled when asked why he wasn't defending himself. And we began to ask the question ourself -- not because we believed, like his detractors, that he couldn't, but because we knew he could, and should, and it frustrated us that he wouldn't.

Well, now he has.

From the Blogs for Bush entry:

President Bush, in his speech earlier today, finally answered these critics directly:

While it is perfectly legitimate to criticize my decision or the conduct of the war, it is deeply irresponsible to rewrite the history of how that war began. Some Democrats and anti-war critics are now claiming we manipulated the intelligence and misled the American people about why we went to war.

These critics are fully aware that a bipartisan Senate investigation found no evidence of political pressure to change the intelligence community's judgments related to Iraq's weapons programs. They also know that intelligence agencies from around the world agreed with our assessment of Saddam Hussein. They know the United Nations passed more than a dozen resolutions citing his development and possession of weapons of mass destruction. Many of these critics supported my opponent during the last election, who explained his position to support the resolution in the Congress this way: 'When I vote to give the President of the United States the authority to use force, if necessary, to disarm Saddam Hussein, it is because I believe that a deadly arsenal of weapons of mass destruction in his hands is a threat, and a grave threat, to our security.' That's why more than 100 Democrats in the House and the Senate, who had access to the same intelligence voted to support removing Saddam Hussein from power.

The stakes in the global War on Terror are too high, and the national interest is too important, for politicians to throw out false charges. These baseless attacks send the wrong signal to our troops and to an enemy that is questioning America's will. As our troops fight a ruthless enemy determined to destroy our way of life, they deserve to know that their elected leaders who voted to send them to war continue to stand behind them. Our troops deserve to know that this support will remain firm when the going gets tough. And our troops deserve to know that whatever our differences in Washington, our will is strong, our Nation is united, and we will settle for nothing less than victory. (emphasis added)

Thank you, President Bush. We couldn't have said it better ourselves. Although, to be honest, we HAVE said it more OFTEN. It's nice to see you return to the form we so admired, have finally showed yourself to still be the man for whom we voted.