The Loyal Opposition

Proving that not all Democrats have abandoned the ideal of the loyal opposition practised by the Republicans during World War II, Senator Joe Lieberman gave an object lesson in how to practise the role of wartime opposition to the rest of his party on his return from Iraq today.

According to the Hartford Courant, Senator Lieberman spent two days this week in Iraq talking to Iraqi and American officals and soldiers. He has made four such trips in the past 17 months, and can reasonably be said to be one of the senate's best-informed members on the subjectg. Upon his return, he praised President Bush's strategy and urged the President to make the public aware of the successes in Iraq as a counterbalance to the Mainstream Media's unending drumbeat of negativity.

Kudos to Senator Lieberman, and especially considering the inability of so many of his fellow Democrats to put patriotism above partisan politics. I would remind the Democrats of the principled stand taken by the 1944 Republican candidate Thomas Dewey regarding his refusal to make Pearl harbor a campaign issue: "I would rather lose the presidency and win the war than the reverse." A quick history lesson reminds us that he did lose the Presidency, but his country won the war- decisively. Too bad most of the Democratic Party (with the exception of such patriots as Senator Lieberman) have long since abandoned even the idea of loyalty to country.