Rove is right: weak politicians give the terrorists hope they can defeat us

White House strategist Karl Rove's June 22 comments about certain politicians unwittingly aiding terrorists was right on the mark.

Here's what Rove said:

. . . perhaps the most important difference between conservatives and liberals can be found in the area of national security. Conservatives saw the savagery of 9/11 and the attacks and prepared for war; liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers. In the wake of 9/11, conservatives believed it was time to unleash the might and power of the United States military against the Taliban; in the wake of 9/11, liberals believed it was time to . . . submit a petition. I am not joking. Submitting a petition is precisely what Moveon.org did. It was a petition imploring the powers that be" to "use moderation and restraint in responding to the terrorist attacks against the United States."

Note that Rove didn't say "Democrats." He said "liberals," obviously referring as well to some of the more weak-kneed members of his Republican party.

After 9/11, President Bush said he would lead the United States against terrorists by any means possible. He went ahead and did that, but the liberals are now viewing him as more of a threat than the terrorists. Here are some key examples:

* A generally defeatist attitude in which the politicians ask harsh questions of those leading the war effort, yet seldom offer constructive advice or solutions.
* Senator Dick Durbin's repeated comparisons of the American military with Nazis, Stalinists and other mass murderers - without a single rebuke from another liberal member of the Senate.
* Senator Ted Kennedy's constant attempts to water down anti-terrorist legislation.
* Senator Carl Levin's swarming attacks on the Office of the Secretary of Defense, in which he issues countless demands for information in a harassment campaign designed to hamstring those leading the war effort.
* Senator Jay Rockefeller's political abuse of the formerly bipartisan Select Committee on Intelligence, and his Levin-like campaign make endless demands for information in order to harass and discredit decision-makers.
* Liberal (and libertarian) attempts to sandbag the USA PATRIOT Act that has allowed authorities to round up terrorist support networks.
* Defense of the "rights" of captured al Qaeda and Taliban detainees, and demands that they be given the legal protections of the United States Constitution.
* Repeated encouragement of the "insurgents" and mosque-bombers in Iraq by using each day's explosions as another reason for the US to cut and run.
* Repeated encouragement of other terrorists around the world by crippling the administration's toughest anti-terrorism operations.
* Joining North Korea's Kim Jong-il and Cuba's Fidel Castro in bitter opposition to President Bush's pick of a tough ambassador to the United Nations.

This is not loyal opposition. This is a pattern of partisan attacks by politicians who have allowed their policy differences with the president to become sabotage of the war on terrorism. This pattern is sending the terrorists the message that, if the Islamists and Ba'athists and others can continue their attacks, the weaklings and self-servers in Congress will be there to declare defeat and demand an American withdrawal. The politicians are giving the terrorists the hope they need to continue fighting.