Please Make the Righties Stop Talking Now

YOU ARE VISITING THE OLD MALKIN(S)WATCH. THAT'S FANTASTIC. PLEASE VISIT THE NEW MALKIN(S)WATCH WHEN YOU GET A CHANCE.

The Howard Dean winger swarm, summarized here by Malkin, illuminates two, and only two, theories of personality regarding Malkin and her co-ideologues.

But back to that in a minute. A commenter on Liberal Avenger hits Dean from from one side:

...he proposed that the troops be removed (”redeployed”) from Iraq . . . within two years!

Now, if he thinks it’s a plainly lost cause, why does he want to take two years to get out?

while Malkin comes from the other:

Scott Ott pens the defeatist DNC chair's Christmas theme song: "We'll Retreat 'fore Christmas."

Guess they forgot to nail down their talking points before deploying.

And from the "there's-a-first-time-for-everything" files, Malkin links to a blogger quoting Tom Paine, of all people. Emphasis mine to point out what Sensing and Malkin are missing.

‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.

Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered … The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind. We have it in our power to begin the world over again. Give to every other human being every right that you claim for yourself – that is my doctrine. He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself...

That's right, Malkin, who frequently puts quotation marks around "torture" and "abuse" when referring to Gitmo and Abu Ghraib, wants to claim Tom Paine.

Sensing, at least, has said "there is no 'but'" when it comes to torture being wrong, but I would still recommend he take a look at where the tyranny and oppression are truly coming from these days. Saddam is gone. Who are we fighting against? And why?

As for the theories of personality alluded to above: Malkin's reaction to Dean's comments - "Howard the Coward" - means that (s)he believes one of two things about Iraq: 1) We can win; 2) We can't win, but don't tell anybody.

If it's the former, I'd like to ask Malkin & the righties what exactly victory will look like. Because I don't think they know. And if they say they know, I'm sure it will involve an ending of the insurgency, a collapse of popular support for violence, the forming of a friendly government to the United States, the avoidance of the 'domino effect' of worldwide Communism Islamic extremism - all of the goals expressed during Vietnam. Which brings up the old "Insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results" canard, with extra bloodletting.

If it's the latter then the right is just suicidal - "We get that it's not working, but it's treasonous to bring that up. Damn the consequences - stay the course!"

Crazy or suicidal. Either way, let me off here.