Friday, October 13, 2006

What I believe....

I was watching a special on TV recently about the police and firemen that helped dig for the bodies in the rubble of the World Trade Centers. They interviewed several of them. They interviewed one priest who stood outside the entrance of where the workers would go in day after day, 12 hours a day. The first few days in the pouring rain. At first they didn't allow him to go in, but he got to know everyone so well as they would stop and ask him to pray with them on their way in or out, so they let him in to help.

Each story each man told broke my heart. They felt compelled to find the bodies of their fallen comrades. One can only imagine the emotional and physical strain they must have gone through. Yet, they got up every day and did it.

I don't imagine that we will ever hear all the stories of heroism the day of 9-11. Sometimes circumstances bring out the best in us. A part of us that we may not have even known was there. I remember the story of the man who carried his friend who was handicapped all the way down dozens and dozen of floors. We have read of those who went back in the towers, knowing how dangerous it was, to save others. Who among us is that selfless?

There are so many hero' among us. Sadly though, they just never run for office.

I saw a commercial for a horror movie recently and I thought of Anne Frank from The Diary of Anne Frank. The commercial showed a young girl with her ear pressed against a wall. On the other side of the wall in the dark was a ghoulish monster with his ear pressed against the wall on the other side. I thought of Anne Frank because her life was like that. She lived behind the walls while monsters lived outside of it.

This is basically why I support this war on terror. If we don't fight the ghoulish monsters then we will live in fear behind the walls of America, always listening and wondering if the monsters will come again.

What I loved about Ann was the way she just lived her life despite the horror of her circumstances. The line in her book that is most quoted is too perfect. It's almost as if it had to have been written by a novelist. But I've never seen it quoted it full, so I will do so here because I have always shared her feelings:

"It is a wonder that I haven't dropped all of my ideals, because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep them, because in spite of everything I still believe people are really good at heart."

I'm like Ann that way, despite all evidence to the contrary, I still believe in the goodness of mankind.

Many who read this blog might think that I admire Republican politicians. I do not. I admire no politicians. I believe that by the time a person, Republican or Democrat, gets to Congress or the Presidency, he has sold out so many times there is very little left to admire.

I believe in Republicans for one reason and one reason only. This. The Republican platform. It is a mission statement really. You see, I believe in the mission, not the man. We voters have the power to push a politician to vote in a way that leads our country in the direction we wish it to go. And that is the only power we have. But it is of vital importance. This is how the Republican platform of 2004 begins:

Ronald Reagan

He believed that bigotry and prejudice were the worst things a person could be guilty of.
He believed in the Golden Rule and in the power of prayer.
He believed that America was not just a place in the world, but the hope for the world.
As Ronald Wilson Reagan goes his way, we are left with a joyful hope he shared.
May God bless Ronald Reagan and the country he loved.

Many on the left here should read through the platform, I think you might be surprised at the depth of compassion and aid to global poverty that is there. And there is, of course, my main issue, the sanctity of an innocent child's life in the womb. The understanding of which is necessary in my view, to be the kind of leader I wish for.

My point is this. The heros of this world are little girls who write beautiful words despite a horror we can't begin to imagine. The heros of this world go into burning buildings to save people they have never met. The heros of this world love those who don't deserve love. These are our heros, not the politicians. Let's don't' expect them to be our heros.

Let's just expect them to continue to make this country great and compassionate.

I have been one small voice. And I know that a million small voices can be very loud. Continue to be loud, but don't forget that it takes more than a voice to make a difference.

It takes becoming a hero.

Just in time for Halloween!


Haunted Furniture. It ain't cheap either.

via boing boing

You have to laugh.

Remember Bill Clinton getting all in Chris Wallace's face about doing a "nice conservative little hit job" on Clinton?

Turns out...Chris Wallace is a registered Democrat and has been for two decades.

So..the host of Fox News Sunday is a Democrat. Interesting, huh?

Thursday, October 12, 2006

NRO's The Corner parties..

If you scroll through NRO's The Corner you get the run down on last night's party for National Review Online's 10 year anniversary.

I just wish I could have been there. I wish they would have a party for all of us devoted bloggers who linked them all the time. A free party, not the $700 a ticket one like they had in Houston where I almost broke my rule here for not begging for donations to pay for a ticket.

Of course if I was there I would just tell K-Lo that she absolutely rocks and is waaayyy underappreciated over at NRO. I would tell Jonah he's cute and ask him if he has ever seen this and I love his back and forth with Iain Murray and John Podhoretz. And I would tell John Derbyshire how much I love how he loves America.

I love all the writers over there giving us their thoughts during the day. I started reading National Review when I was 21 yrs old. I had a subscription for 20 yrs. And then I started reading it online. To say it helped form my worldview would be an understatement.

Cheers to NRO The Corner!!

The Adoption Option.

Heaven knows I would want to encourage any adoption of children, but this "third world" adoption spree by Madonna and Angelina Jolie just smacks of self indulgence.

Are there not millions of children in need of adoption in this country? Of course. So why travel around the world to 3rd world countries? It seems it's all about the PR factor to me.

It's not that I don't think they truly want to do something to make a child's life better, I just think they also know that in doing it in this way they get the added bonus of being all about the "global" world and family.

Children don't need PR, they need parents. I hope to God these divas try to actual be good ones.

Let me add one thing. If you want to look at a celebrity that really did adopt out of the goodness of her heart, look no further than Mia Farrow. She didn't have nannies or jet around the world with an entourage. She put her career on the back burner to not only adopt children from poverty stricken nations, but those who are the most difficult to place with physical handicaps. So she didn't go to pick out the cutest little baby some little country had, she took the ones that no one else wanted. She has adopted 10 children.

Now that, my friends, is putting your heart where your mouth is, not where the PR is.

Harry Reid Scandal

Gateway Pundit has the dish on it. He even has audio of Reid hanging up on an AP reporter. But let's face it. This just isn't as juicy as the Foley scandal and it's a Democrat, so don't expect much from the MSM.

via Ace

Iraqi The Model is ticked

He is writing over at Politics Central and he isn't happy about this "research team" that put out the inflated Iraqi death toll numbers:

"Among the things I cannot accept is exploiting the suffering of people to make gains that are not the least related to easing the suffering of those people. I’m talking here about those researchers who used the transparency and open doors of the new Iraq to come and count the drops of blood we shed.

Human flesh is abundant and all they have to do is call this hospital or that office to get the count of casualties, even more they can knock on doors and ask us one by one and we would answer because we’ve got nothing to be ashamed of.

We believe in what we’re struggling for and we are proud of our sacrifices.

I wonder if that research team was willing to go to North Korea or Libya and I think they wouldn’t have the guts to dare ask Saddam to let them in and investigate deaths under his regime.

No, they would’ve shit their pants the moment they set foot in Iraq and they would find themselves surrounded by the Mukhabarat men counting their breaths. However, maybe they would have the chance to receive a gift from the tyrant in exchange for painting a rosy picture about his rule.

They shamelessly made an auction of our blood, and it didn’t make a difference if the blood was shed by a bomb or a bullet or a heart attack because the bigger the count the more useful it becomes to attack this or that policy in a political race and the more useful it becomes in cheerleading for murderous tyrannical regimes.

When the statistics announced by hospitals and military here, or even by the UN, did not satisfy their lust for more deaths, they resorted to mathematics to get a fake number that satisfies their sadistic urges."

Ouch.

Read the rest.

via NRO

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Stuff...

I am appalled and disgusted by BlogActive outing Republican gays. It is disgusting! How dare he feel he has a right to reveal personal information on people just because they disagree with his politics! These people aren't cheating or stealing. They are just working and want their private life to be private. Shame on BlogActive.

The moonbats are going crazy with these inflated number of casualties in Iraq. The Corner puts it in perspective here and here.

The economic news is great. As NRO points out "the federal budget deficit drop to $248 billion for fiscal 2006, the smallest in four years, and less than 2 percent of GDP. At lower tax rates, the economy is expanding and revenues are soaring." Recent economic reports on retail sales, manufacturing, services and jobs show solid growth and gas prices are down.

If you are still interested in the Foley story, WaPo has a summary of what we know.

John McCain....

guest blogging at Captain's Quarters! It's all about N. Korea.

h/t Christine

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

I'm thinking the left can just drop the "we will need a draft" talk

Mudville reports:

The NY Times notes an Army success story:

WASHINGTON, Oct. 9 — One year after the Army failed to meet its annual recruiting goal by the widest margin in two decades, the Pentagon is to announce this week that the ground forces, and the rest of the military, all reached their targets for recruits in 2006.
<...>
For active-duty forces, the Army signed up 80,635 people in the 2006 fiscal year, which ended at midnight on Sept. 30, topping its goal of 80,000. The Navy recruited 36,679, after setting a goal of 36,656. The Marines enlisted 32,337, with a goal of 32,301, and the Air Force recruited 30,889, topping its goal of 30,750.
<...>
Across the reserve component, the Air Force Reserve recruited 6,989 people, well over its goal of 6,607, and the Marine Corps Reserve topped its goal of 8,024 by signing up 8,056. The Air National Guard reached 97 percent of its goal, signing up 9,138 people, beneath a target of 9,380, and the Navy reserve attracted 9,722 people, just 87 percent of its goal of 11,180.


Even the shortfalls weren't very short:

The Army National Guard approached its goal of 70,000 by recruiting 69,042, while the Army Reserve hit 95 percent of its goal, recruiting 34,379 of a goal of 36,032.

...though some recruits did benefit from the oft-noted waivers:

The Army has been criticized for raising the allowable age for recruits to 42, from 35. General van Antwerp said no more than 500 new soldiers were in that category.

You'll find the full on-line story here - if you prefer the print version it's buried on page 19.

Good Grief!




David Zucker of "Scary Movie" fame made this ad for the GOP to use. As DRUDGE reports:

"One GOP strategist said "jaws dropped" when the ad was first viewed. "Nobody could believe Zucker thought any political organization could use this ad. It makes a point, but it's way over the top."

Zucker is the producer and director of comedies such as "Airplane" and "The Naked Gun." In 2004, Zucker, a longtime Democrat, embraced the Republican Party based on concerns he had about national security issues and voted for President George W. Bush."

Thanks for trying though! We need all the help we can get.

h/t Cormac

Update: YouTube has flagged the video: "This video may contain content that is inappropriate for some users, as flagged by YouTube's user community. To view this video, please verify you are 18 or older by logging in or signing up." h/t Matthew

Oh for heaven's sake. They have got to be kidding.

"Election Day and Staying Home"

Bill Bennet puts it in CLEAR perspective for us:

"Okay, look. Now is the time for all good men—and women—to come to the aid of the party.

In 1960, Barry Goldwater famously shouted, "Grow Up Conservatives." It took 20 years for that call to be heeded, and we got the expanded, entrenched Welfare State, a disastrous & humilitaing foreign policy in the meantime; and Ronald Reagan's presidency was about attempting to roll back those 20 years as much asmoving forward on a positive agenda.

Look, if you want John Paul Stevens replaced on the Supreme Court with a carboncopy, pro-choice, pro-racial preferences Justice, stay home.

If you want Donald Rumsfeld hauled before Congress every week justifying the war rather than fighting it, stay home.

If you want spending to increase even above the levels you are unhappy with now, stay home.

If you want Henry Waxman holding hearings on every aspect of theadministration's actions, stay home.

If you want to see the war in Iraq defunded to the point of withdrawal so that the worst elements in Iraq take over and a repeat of the helicopters-fleeing-Saigon-type-images come back all over again, signaling a decade-long disrespect and doubt of American power, stay home.

If you want to keep the border unsealed, stay home.

The stakes are large, we can't afford twenty years, we can't afford two years of this. If you want a change in your Congressional leadership, fine, wait until you have the election, then demand it, with a new GOP speaker and majority leader if you want...but let me tell you, a new minority leader and a new minority whip will not get you much, it won't get you anything.

Two years ago we sent a message by reelecting the President, have things fallen so hard since then that we can't muster those numbers again and see that the good should not be traded in for the bad? You want to rue a day? You will rue a day with John Conyers as head of the House Judiciary and Pat Leahy as head ofthe Senate Judiciary. Don't do it. Please don't do it.

h/t Dean

Iraq

I could never trust the MSM on Iraq. They had a political agenda to begin with and continue with it. So I would read the blogs from soldiers in Iraq like Mudville and I would read independent journalist Michael Yon ,who was there. And nothing could beat the blog from an Iraqi himself, Iraq The Model. There were lots of good news that wasn't being reported. But these guys have not always been pollyanna. They weren't cheerleaders for anyone's political agenda. When there was bad news, they report it too, which is why I trust them.

So when these same people that I respect point out the deep problems there, I listen. I don't pretend I understand military strategy. I vote for people I trust to do the best job and I let them do it. But there is no doubt that we have big problems in Iraq in how to handle the fighting factions. No war has ever been perfect and this one is far from it.

After reading many articles from people I respect regarding Iraq they all seem to be saying that it is time to start talking about leaving. No one they spoke to or interviewed including higher ups in the military think we should withdraw now. But creating the understanding that we have gone as far as we can go and will not be staying forever will go a long way in convincing the people in the Middle East that we don't have our sights set on "owning" Iraq.

We should able to hand over the security of Iraq to a capable Iraqi army soon. I know that we cannot just leave. That would be a disaster. And I understand why Bush cannot say that we will leave by such and such a date. But I do hope that in the halls of the Pentagon there is a date that is secret but known to them on how and when we leave for the most part.

I have said many times that we ignored this part of the world for far too long and throwing Saddam out and establishing a struggling Democracy was the absolute right thing to do and history will prove this to be the case I believe. It's a bloody birth made bloodier by the monsters who don't care who they blow up on their way to a fake paradise. It is my belief that we deal with them now or our grandchildren will deal with them later and possibly on our own soil.

But Iraq is alot like having a teenager, one must let them go to make their own mistakes. You are always there as backup, but they must learn on their own. So it will be eventually with Iraq.

There is this one story that is silly and small in the big picture, but it said more to me about the hope for the future of Iraq than anything else. Mudville reports about the Iraqis having a fake TV News program that is much like the John Daily Show here:

BAGHDAD - The year is 2017, according to the opening credits of the fake news broadcast, and the last man alive in Iraq, whose name is Saaed, is sitting at a desk, working as a television news anchor. He sports an Afro, star-shaped sunglasses, and a button-down shirt.

The Americans are still here, the government is still bumbling, and the anchor wants his viewers to drink their tea slowly so they don't burn themselves. "You cannot go to the hospital during the curfew," he warns.

For Iraqis, the remark is outrageously funny, if only because it's so close to being true.
After a summer of the worst violence since U.S. troops toppled Saddam Hussein's regime, tens of thousands of Iraqis are finding solace and amusement in a new television show whose dark humor makes it an Iraqi version of Jon Stewart's The Daily Show.


The nightly send-up of a newscast includes weather, sports and business segments and features six characters, all played by the same actor.

With seemingly no sacred cows, it provides insight into how Iraqis see their country's problems, lampooning the Americans, the Iraqi government, the militias, and the head of Iraq's state-owned media company.<...>The show is being produced to run only during Ramadan, the month when Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset, and it airs just as Baghdadis are breaking their fast. It is so popular that many people report being glued to the screen, eating their first meal of the day in small bites between laughs.

Imagine! Just a few years ago one would be tortured and killed for speaking out against the government at all! And now they have a TV show that makes fun of the government and everything else, including us.

You see what this is, don't you??? It's the spirit of freedom. The best of what it means to be free. The fact that we can laugh at ourselves and our government and not fear punishment. That is what they are experiencing for the first time!

It gives me hope. With Islamic fanatic monsters in their midst, they still choose to laugh.

All is not lost my friends. The tunnel is dark and difficult to travel, but the pinpoint of light is there, flickering, waiting for those in Iraq to continue to struggle toward it.

Let's pray they make it.

30 reasons why it's better to be a woman.

Heh.

1. We got off the Titanic first.
2. We get to flirt with systems support men who always return our calls, and are nice to us when we blow up our computers.
3. Our boyfriend's clothes make us look elfin & gorgeous. Guys look like complete idiots in ours.
4. We can be groupies. Male groupies are stalkers.
5. We can cry and get off speeding fines.
6. We've never lusted after a cartoon character or the central female figure in a computer game.
7. Taxis stop for us.
8. Men die earlier, so we get to cash in on the life insurance.
9. We don't look like a frog in a blender when dancing.
10. Free drinks, Free dinners, Free movies ... (you get the point).
11. We can hug our friends without wondering if she thinks we're gay.
12. We can hug our friends without wondering if WE'RE gay.
13. New lipstick gives us a whole new lease on life.
14. It's possible to live our whole lives without ever taking a group shower.
15. We don't have to fart to amuse ourselves.
16. If we forget to shave, no one has to know.
17. We can congratulate our team-mate without ever touching her butt.
18. If we have a zit, we know how to conceal it.
19. We never have to reach down every so often to make sure our privates are still there.
20. If we're dumb, some people will find it cute.
21. We don't have to memorize Caddyshack or Fletch to fit in.
22. We have the ability to dress ourselves.
23. We can talk to people of the opposite sex without having to picture them naked.
24. If we marry someone 20 years younger, we're aware that we look like an idiot.
25. Our friends won't think we're weird if we ask whether there's spinach in our teeth.
26. There are times when chocolate really can solve all your problems.
27. We'll never regret piercing our ears.
28. We can fully assess a person just by looking at their shoes.2
29. We know which glass was ours by the lipstick mark.
30. We have enough sense to realize that the easiest way to get out of being lost is to ask for directions.

h/t BigDog

McCain on North Korea

The Hotline highlights the first direct challenge to Hillary Clinton by John McCain on North Korea:

"In his first direct challenge to the Democrat he expects to face in the 2008 presidential race, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) today alleged that Sen. Hillary Clinton and Democrats fail to recognize the gathering threat posed by North Korea in voting to block a national missile defense program and by supporting an approach to Asian diplomacy that McCain believes is a proven failure. McCain scheduled a press conference late this morning in Michigan, where he is campaigning for Senate candidate Mike Bouchard, to draw a bright line between himself and Clinton on national security, according to an adviser."

More:

"McCain, long an opponent of Pres. Bill Clinton's framework approach to North Korea, endorsed Bush's call for tough financial and trade sanctions against the country and for a full, enforceable embargo on arms. The United Nations, McCain said, has the right to interdict and inspect all cargo entering and departing North Korean waters. McCain will urge the UN and US policy markers to punish the North Koreans' "bad behavior." North Korea, McCain said, has received billions in energy assistance through the "framework agreement" negotiated by the Clinton administration in 2003 but managed to divert resources to secretly enrich uranium without detection.


Said McCain: "Prior to the agreement, every single time the Clinton Administration warned the Koreans not to do something -- not to kick out the IAEA inspectors, not to remove the fuel rods from their reactor -- they did it. And they were rewarded every single time by the Clinton Administration with further talks. We had a carrots and no sticks policy that only encouraged bad behavior. When one carrot didn't work, we offered another."

One has to wonder how many more failures of the Clinton administration will come back to haunt us.

Who will stay home on election day?

There is so much speculation and polling going on, but I think that the only difference this Foley scandal and even the N. Korea nuclear test will make is that some will stay home out of disgust and some will make the effort for national security.

I think it will be a wash.

I think we will hold on the the Senate and the House, but by the skin of our teeth. Which would have been the case even if this little sleazy "October surprise" had never happened.

I'll be gone until afternoon. Have a great morning.

Sometime truth slips out...

Check out a little honesty from Claire McCaskill who is running against Jim Talent for a Senate seat in Missouri on Meet The Press:

MR. RUSSERT: You’re having Bill Clinton come in to raise money for you. Do you think Bill Clinton was a great president?

MS. McCASKILL: I do. I think—I have a lot of problems with some of his, his, his personal issues. I said at...

MR. RUSSERT: But do you...

MS. McCASKILL: I said at the time, “I think he’s been a great leader, but I don’t want my daughter near him.”

Hmmm... A great leader who you're afraid to have your daughter around.

At least she was honest about Clinton being a scuzzy horndog.

via RWN

Monday, October 09, 2006

Gay KKK



This made me laugh. Just because you're a racist doesn't mean you can't be nice about it.

via Hip Hop Republican

Geeze, John Kerry....Get over it.

via the Corner:

"On the edition of his program taped in Washington, Bill Maher interviewed John Kerry. In the chit-chat at the beginning of the interview, Kerry said he and his wife had gone to Vermont for a getaway for her birthday. Maher said they could have gone to New Hampshire and killed two birds with one stone. Kerry's response:

I could have gone to 1600 Pennsylvania and killed the real bird with one stone."

Being Catholic. Getting It Right.

via HughHewitt this is an excerpt from a most excellent homily by Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver delivered a homily at a Red Mass in Pennsylvania last week.

When people claim they’re Catholic but do nothing in the public square to advance the Christian understanding of each human person’s dignity, they’re deceiving themselves and other people — but they’re not fooling God. The sanctity of the human person begins at conception. It continues through every tick on the clock until natural death. Embryonic stem cell research, abortion, assisted suicide – these are fundamental, inexcusable violations of human dignity. So is trying to change the meaning of marriage. So is exploiting the disabled and the poor. So is bigotry against immigrants. And if somewhere in your hearts a little voice is whispering “I agree, but” — that’s exactly the kind of gloss Francis and Jesus both warned against.

We need to drill it into our heads that defending the sanctity of the human person and serving the common good can’t be separated. Stuffing our Catholic faith in a closet when we enter the public square or join a public debate isn’t good manners, and it isn’t political courtesy. It’s cowardice. And we’ll be judged for that cowardice, by the God who created us.

Look!

One of my favorite writers now has a blog!

Check out Victor Davis Hanson's Works and Days.

h/t BigDog

In case you missed it...

.....over the weekend. This is a head shaker. You laugh because it's so ridiculous, but it's sad too. But it says all one needs to know about how the Democrats support our troops.

No surprise here.


RWN has some results from a very telling poll at the Democratic Underground:

"At the Democratic Underground, people who believe in any sort of organized religion are a minority. But, amongst the general population, 92% of the American people believe in God. Furthermore, according to the latest numbers I was able to find, "76.5% of American adults are Christian," and, "14.1% do not follow any organized religion.""

You have to wonder how they feel when their Democratic stars like Hillary and Bill, Al Gore, and John Kerry and John Edwards ect.. tout their "faith." Do they simply think they are only pandering? (Like I do)

Boom.

Michelle and HotAir have all the updates you could ask for regardingNorth Korea's nuclear testing.

I know the Democrats are cursing this morning. This darn nuclear stuff keeps the news off the really important things like more of Mark Foley's instant messaging.

As John Hood at NRO points out:

"America and its allies have new evidence today of a threat to civilization and to our very lives. The North Koreans already supply Islamic totalitarians with conventional arms. The risk of Korean nuclear devices or expertise being transferred to our deadly enemies is real. It is not a political invention. It is not a partisan talking point. Examining the constellation of forces on the peninsula and elsewhere, the madman of Pyongyang has little reason to fear retaliation or feel deterred. He knows that our military options are, at best, problematic. He likely doesn’t care about the prospect of new sanctions, as they will affect his subject slaves but not his own household or power. In exchange for resources he needs, he will trade with terror states who want at least the nuclear leverage to demand American withdrawal and quiescence in the Middle East and Central Asia, while they seek to recreate an Islamic paradise they imagine existed more than a millennia ago. And some want not just this ability to threat and blackmail, but the ability to kill hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of infidels in a single glorious act of submission to a vengeful God. "

It's time to focus. You're mad at Republicans? Thinking about sitting out of voting this year? Read the above once more and reconsider. Then read the following from Opinion Journal and take a peek at how Democrats handle missile defense:

"All of which makes the U.S. political debate over missile defenses worth revisiting, not least because some Democrats are still trying to strangle the program. In the House, John Tierney of Massachusetts this year proposed cutting the Pentagon's missile-defense budget by more than half. His amendment was defeated on the House floor, but it won the support of more than half of his Democratic colleagues, including would-be Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Meanwhile in the Senate, Carl Levin (D., Mich.) offered in June to cut off funds for the ground-based interceptor program that Mr. Bush recently activated in Alaska in anticipation of the North Korean launch. Mr. Levin wants to stop new interceptors from being built, but Senate Republicans wouldn't bring his proposal up for a vote. Mr. Levin has been waging his own private war against missile defenses for a generation, to the point of outflanking Russian objections on the political left...

Virtually none of this would exist had Democrats succeeded over the years in their many attempts to kill missile defenses. Going back to 1983, Senator Ted Kennedy dismissed Ronald Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative as a fanciful "Star Wars" program. Ten years later, with President Clinton in office, Democrats starved the program of funds. Republicans made funding defenses part of their Contract with America and spent most of the 1990s battling the Clinton Administration to keep the program alive.

Democrats also made a fetish out of the ABM Treaty, even after the end of the Cold War. Al Gore campaigned to keep it in 2000, promising only to build defenses that would abide by its tight limitations. Senator Biden predicted that dropping out of the treaty to build missile defenses would turn the U.S. into "a kind of bully nation." And Senator John Kerry cautioned that "we must not set aside the logic of deterrence that has kept us safe for 40 years." Neither logic nor deterrence are the first words that come to mind when we think of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad."

More from U.S. House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH):

"This reckless move by North Korea, coupled with their attempted missile test in early July, highlights the importance of a U.S. missile defense shield capable of protecting America against madmen with weapons of mass destruction. It is time for Democrats to recognize the need for missile defense technologies and abandon their long-standing policy of voting against missile defense programs. It is now clear that such a position would weaken America's national defense and put Americans in danger."

Update: Bryan Preston at HotAir has a CNS news archive from 6 yrs ago on how we got here. He also has an audio interview with the editor and chief of CNS news explaining it.

You have to listen to it.