Richard Cohen: Michael Steele was Right about Afghanistan
[Richard Cohen is a columnist with the Washington Post.]
"Facts are the enemy of truth," Don Quixote tweeted so very long ago -- and as if to prove his point, the Democratic Party in all its tawdry glory unloosed a barrage of facts in the direction of the slyly brilliant Michael Steele, chairman of the Republican National Committee who is almost certain to someday take his place in the conservative cable TV firmament. For saying that the war in Afghanistan is "a war of Obama's choosing," he was, for a brief and shining moment, stating the absolute truth....
One can appreciate how Steele got his "facts" wrong. It is how possession of the Vietnam War moved from Lyndon Johnson to Richard Nixon even though they both lacked absolute belief in the cause -- whatever exactly that once was. Nixon, in fact, even had a secret plan to end the conflict and was furiously de-escalating, rapidly Vietnamizationing and frantically trying to disentangle himself and the nation from the war. Still, when demonstrators gathered outside the White House, it was not to praise his peace efforts but to denounce him as a warmonger. The rule in all these cases seems pretty apparent: Either end the war or own it....
Read entire article at WaPo
"Facts are the enemy of truth," Don Quixote tweeted so very long ago -- and as if to prove his point, the Democratic Party in all its tawdry glory unloosed a barrage of facts in the direction of the slyly brilliant Michael Steele, chairman of the Republican National Committee who is almost certain to someday take his place in the conservative cable TV firmament. For saying that the war in Afghanistan is "a war of Obama's choosing," he was, for a brief and shining moment, stating the absolute truth....
One can appreciate how Steele got his "facts" wrong. It is how possession of the Vietnam War moved from Lyndon Johnson to Richard Nixon even though they both lacked absolute belief in the cause -- whatever exactly that once was. Nixon, in fact, even had a secret plan to end the conflict and was furiously de-escalating, rapidly Vietnamizationing and frantically trying to disentangle himself and the nation from the war. Still, when demonstrators gathered outside the White House, it was not to praise his peace efforts but to denounce him as a warmonger. The rule in all these cases seems pretty apparent: Either end the war or own it....