Remember when pulling our troops out of Iraq meant the end of the world as we know it?

I do. According to Republicans, pulling out of Iraq was equivalent to “surrendering to terrorists.” Anyone supporting such as action was labeled as being a traitor. We had to “win”, no matter the cost or the time involved. If the U.S. were to remove our troops, then we would have “lost.” Terrorists were going to come in and take over and the U.S. would suffer catastrophic attacks, worse than those of September 11, 2001. John McCain’s presidential campaign was substantially based on “winning the war in Iraq.” Remember that? I do.

I also remember that no one raised any sort of alarm about how much this spending to maintain two overseas wars was doing to our deficit. Anyone who brought up that was branded as a traitor, a hater of our troops. Dick Cheney famously said that “deficits don’t matter.”

So, what has happened since then? The Democrats, now that they have nominal control of both Houses of Congress as well as the presidency, have decided one of their main objectives is to reform how the healthcare system takes care of our citizens. How do the Republicans respond? Healthcare reform is the worst possible thing that could ever happen to this country. It’s socialism. It’s communism. It will kill old people. It will cause a huge deficit. It will be the end of democracy as we know it. That’s just about all that we hear from Republicans these days.


Here’s the latest news on the war in Iraq. From CNN:

Ambassador Christopher Hill told the House Foreign Affairs Committee that the timetable for withdrawing all U.S. combat troops from Iraq by next August and all troops from the country by 2011 is "absolutely achievable."

I do not see any wailing and garment rending by Republicans about “losing the war in Iraq.” What is happening is what those Democrats who weren’t completely cowed by the shouting pro-war masses were advocating.

Where is the outrage that we are losing the war? Where is the concern that the U.S has officially adopted a pro-terrorist position?

The outrage on the Right is limited right now to the healthcare debate. And some left over for attempting to address global climate change. Horrors! Haters of America! Socialists! Nazis!

But I do not hear one single peep about pulling our troops out of Iraq. After all the noise that was generated from the right during the presidential campaign, you might think that such a potential calamity might warrant a mention now and then, wouldn’t you?

No, it’s healthcare! That’s the most important issue confronting this country, that Obama’s attempt at reform will destroy this country.

Is there any doubt, whatsoever, that the Republicans and their out-of-control mouthpieces Rush Limbaugh, Shaun Hannity and Glenn Beck, will go absolutely stark raving mad about anything that the Democrats attempt to try while they are in power? It doesn’t matter what. We have already seen that Republicans will do that for things that, in the past, they have supported! Iraq no longer matters. The Democrats have moved on, so they must move on as well. There are new battles to be fought, no matter that they came out of the old battles looking like complete idiots.

Republicans either do not understand what it means to govern, or else do not care. The only thing that matters is to win all political battles, big and small, and to embarrass your political “enemies” at every single opportunity. If there are no battles to be fought, no opportunities to embarrass, then manufacture some. The media doesn’t care and the public has a very short memory.

And these people consider themselves “patriotic.” I consider them pathetic.