Tuesday, May 18, 2004

Fact Check: I keep reading things that perplex me. Some liberals make two general claims that are completely false, but casually mention them as if they are obviously true.

The first one is that the economy stinks. It's weak, they say. A 5.9 percent unemployment rate is much too high. And it's all Bush's fault.

The truth is, the economy turned around a long time ago, and it is steadily improving. Hundreds of thousands of jobs are being created each month. The biggest issue right now is how soon the Fed will increase interest rates to keep the economy from expanding too quickly.

The second assertion is that the war in Iraq has been a failure. People are dying, they say. Therefore, Bush ran the mission incompetently. We must pull out ASAP (but then they say the June 30 handoff is too soon -- ignoring the contradiction).

Yes, war is still being waged against terrorists in Iraq. This is not a cause for alarm -- this is a cause for determination and resolve.

The war we're fighting in Iraq is the war against terrorism. We defeated Saddam Hussein and liberated Iraq a year ago. Now we're trying to establish a democracy there while Al Qaeda and other terrorists pour into the country to defeat us.

Go ahead and criticize me when I say this, but Bring Them On. We want to fight the terrorists on their home turf instead of in the streets of New York. This is how the war on terrorism needs to play out. The terrorists aren't going to go away quietly. They must be soundly defeated.

The terrorists, as we've seen them admit in the Zarqawi letter, are losing. But they are desperately trying to look like they're winning by causing highly publicized death and confusion. But once the handoff concludes and the U.S. presence is diminished, they will have to fight their fellow Iraqis, something they admit will be a loser for their cause.

I don't understand how some people are blind to good news and are completely clueless about the concept of war. It's not that these people are lying. I'm sure they genuinely believe the mistruth they publish. Or at least they wish it were true. It all leads back to the overwhelming irrational hatred of President Bush. These people are looking for and are somewhat hoping for defeat. Such people lose all credibility in my book.