No Time for A Lack of Experience and Judgment

I have tried to stay away from partisan politics on this blog, but I believe in my heart that the outcome of this election is pivotal to the future of this country -- including our military and the way they are perceived. Already people like the tainted Barney Frank in a meeting with an editorial board

called for a 25 percent cut in military spending, saying the Pentagon has to start choosing from its many weapons programs, and that upper-income taxpayers are going to see an increase in what they are asked to pay.

Beside the fact that I find it so unbelievable that there is actually a segment of the American population -- AND A PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE -- that actually believes that American citizens can make too much money and that they should be punished for studying hard, working hard and living the American Dream by having their money confiscated by the government and given to someone who didn't earn it, I am seriously wondering how people like Frank expect this country to respond and defend it from the "test" Joe Biden says is coming if you cut spending for a military the Democrats are so strident in telling us is "stretched thin" (or outright "broken"?)

I have read the intrepid Michael Yon for a number of years. This is a totally independent journalist who has embedded with our troops both in Iraq and Afghanistan (where he is now). He has no problem telling it like it is: he does not spout the "party line": If he sees good, he tells it. If he sees bad, he tells it. He is one of the few journalists out there who can see the BIG picture in the war on terrorists and terrorism -- past this deadline, that agenda, that headline. He was one of the first to say that we needed to pay more attention and commit more resources to Afghanistan. He was one of the first to say that we needed more troops and a different strategy in Iraq -- and the first to say that the Surge was working. I have come to trust Yon's assessment of the situation on the ground and his informed acknowledgment of the importance and urgency of the fight -- and why it matters (or should matter) to each of us.

In a recent email, here is what Michael Yon has to say about the upcoming election:

The outcome of the upcoming U.S. elections will have a profound impact on the war. Meanwhile, the day to day fighting continues. If Senator Obama is elected, I expect to spend a great deal of time covering the fighting. Judging by his words, Senator Obama must be watched closely or we might see some terrible decisions. I expect 2009 to be the worst year so far in the Af-Pak war, which has serious potential to eventually become far worse than Iraq ever was. If Senator McCain is elected, I'll breathe easier in regard to the war.

For Yon's most recent dispatch, see "Are you Connected."

I was SHOCKED when the Arizona Republic -- usually so Democratic in its leanings that most people (even Democrats) call it the Arizona DEMOCRAT rather than Republic -- endorsed John McCain for President! This paper, more than any other, has followed McCain and his politics and character more closely than any other media anywhere. They are the first to jump on him for any slight or perceived slight to the AZ Republic's agenda. But they are spot on with the following assessments (my underlining):

Regarding foreign policy, no contemporary American statesman is more prepared than McCain to assume the mantles of first diplomat and commander in chief. In the tradition of Harry S. Truman, McCain already has demonstrated a willingness to let the buck of responsibility stop at his desk.

and

No one elected McCain to stand virtually alone against three administrations over their use of power overseas - against President Reagan's ill-fated decision to send Marines to Lebanon in 1983; against President Clinton's decision to send U.S. troops to Somalia in 1993; and against President George W. Bush's decision 10 years later to send insufficient troops to Iraq. He fought Republicans and Democrats over irresponsibly sending troops into harm's way, and he fought Republicans over their equally irresponsible refusal to send enough troops to do the job. In all three instances, history has proved (too often tragically) that McCain's judgment was right.

Even McCain mischaracterizes his noble willingness to stand up and stand alone. He contends it is the "maverick" in him. Well, he's wrong about that. It is the leader in him.

and

If McCain were to do no more than to serve as a presidential protectorate of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, most of which never were made permanent, he would provide a boost to the nation's troubled economy. As the economy lurches and slows, business leaders already envision further drag - and an unnecessarily elongated recession - caused by the heavy anchor of higher taxes, should the Bush-era tax cuts be repealed.

The same concerns apply to the future of American free trade, a cornerstone of the nation's longest-ever period of economic expansion and wealth production. McCain is a stalwart advocate of free trade, while the rhetoric of his Democratic opponent strongly suggests to us that he is not.

and

Obama's plan to reduce the taxes of "95 percent" of working families is most troubling. As many as 44 percent of "taxpayers" today pay no federal income tax at all. What Obama in fact is proposing is a direct transfer of wealth from top earners to those on the lower rungs. In short, he seeks to use the tax system as a revived form of welfare.

and

Still, in terms of experience, Obama is barely four years removed from the Illinois State Legislature. And even that thin record in public office is obscured to us by the senator's proclivity for voting "present," often on knotty issues like abortion. For a candidate seeking the world's greatest political challenge, Obama presents an extraordinarily lightly traveled trail.

Expecting the usual AZR "but" or "however", I gasped when I read:

Nobody in the country knows the Republican presidential candidate better than we do. And no one is better placed to judge whether he would serve honorably and admirably as president of the United States.

We are confident he will. The Arizona Republic proudly recommends John McCain for president.

Vote for John McCain. You'll sleep better at night knowing there is someone experienced and knowledgeable answering that phone at 3AM and that he really does have the interests of ALL Americans -- and not just part of them -- at heart.

As the AZ Republic entitled its endorsement, McCain: A leader for these times.

These are truly serious times -- and no time for a President that lacks experience and judgment.

False advertising is afoot...

From the esteemed (oh man, I know he'd hate that) Michael Yon's latest dispatch Three Marks on the Horizon (my emphasis):

False advertising is afoot. I write these words from Indonesia, soaking wet, having just returned from photographing rice paddies in a pouring rain, wearing a Florida Gators shirt. That means there is a green alligator on my chest. While supporting my team, my shirt perpetuates the myth that alligators are green, when in fact they are black when wet, gray when dry.The mantra that “there is no political progress in Iraq” is rapidly becoming the “surge” equivalent of a green alligator: when enough people repeat something that sounds plausible, but also happens to be false, it becomes accepted as fact. The more often it is repeated—and the larger the number of people repeating it—the harder it is to convince anyone of the truth: alligators are not green, and Iraqis are making plenty of political progress.

There may be little progress on political goals crafted in America, to meet American concerns, by politicians who have a cushion of 200 years of democracy. Washington might as well be on the moon. Iraqis don’t respond well to rules imposed from outside their acknowledged authorities, though I have many times seen Iraqi Police and Army of all ranks responding very well to American Marines and soldiers who they have come to respect, and in many cases actually admire and try to emulate. Our military has increasing moral authority in Iraq, but the same cannot be said for our government at home. In fact, it’s in moral deficit because many Iraqis are increasingly frightened we will abandon them to genocide. The Iraqis I speak with couldn’t care less what is said from Washington but large numbers of them pay close attention to what some Marine Gunny says, or what American battalion commanders all over Iraq say. Some of our commanders could probably run for local offices in Iraq, and win. To say there has been no political progress in Iraq in 2007 is patently absurd, completely wrong and dangerously dismissive of the significant changes and improvements happening all across Iraq. Whether or not Americans are seeing it on the nightly news or reading it in their local papers, Iraqis are actively writing their children’s history.

You must read the whole thing if you really want the truth of what is transpiring in Iraq.... Aye, there's the rub: IF YOU WANT THE TRUTH...

P.S. I don't even have to be in Iraq to know how true this statement from Yon is (hell, Michael -- they don't have any moral clout IN the USA and we think it's a circus act... both sides of the aisle):

Washington has no moral clout in Iraq. Washington looks like a circus act. The authority is coming from our military. The importance of this fact would be difficult to overstate.