Mike Gallagher
Wednesday, May 22, 2002

I've been so angry about the Democrats' attempt to politicize the war that I didn't trust what I might say in print. Now that I've cooled off a bit, I'll give it a shot.

First, the dirty Dems tried to make political hay out of a photo that showed President Bush aboard Air Force One on Sept. 11. The picture was part of a trio of photographs being sold as a fundraiser for the Republican Party. Bush critics went nuts. "This is playing politics with the war!" they screeched. "How can the GOP be raising money over this kind of picture?" they whined.

But even a sarcastic, angry attack by Maureen Dowd in the New York Times failed to generate much attention over the photo flap. Most Americans clearly understood that the GOP had every right to offer a photo of one of President Bush's early defining moments to its supporters.

In fact, sales of the photo are reportedly through the roof, so the efforts to ridicule the Republicans failed miserably. In hindsight, one could only speculate about the type of photo that would capture one of Bill Clinton's "defining moments." That type of photo wouldn't do much to raise money for a political party but would likely do a brisk business at the local XXX-rated adult bookstore.

Then came the "bombshell" that the president was given an intelligence briefing about a possible hijacking weeks before 9-11. One could practically hear people like Tom Daschle and Hillary Clinton smacking their lips with glee.

Never mind that the information the president received was vague and non-specific. Forget the fact that there was nothing any president would have done any differently given the same set of circumstances. The partisan political game was in full swing and the mainstream liberal press just ate it all up.

Newspaper and magazine covers now ask the Watergate-type question: What did he know and when did he know it? It's positively disgraceful. For nearly two years now, the Democrats and mainstream press have scratched their heads in confusion over President Bush's popularity. Finally, they figure, they've found a chink in his armor.

I believe with all of my heart that these tactics will backfire. Americans aren't stupid. We know the game the Democrats are playing. They don't care that there's a war going on, they just want to win more votes in November.

They understand that if one really wanted to play the blame game over our war on terror, all fingers would point to the Clinton administration, which spent eight years ignoring all the warning signs of terrorists setting their sights on the United States. Remember, Bill Clinton was the president who didn't even visit the World Trade Center in 1993 after the first bombing attack there, an event that was described at the time as the most significant act of terror by Arab extremists on American soil ever.

No, this should not be about placing blame or playing politics. Sgt. Gene Vance Jr. came home this week. The 38-year-old West Virginia resident was serving his country in Afghanistan when he was shot and killed last week. Sgt. Vance was the first member of the state National Guard to die on active duty since World War II.

He is what we should be focusing on right now. Americans are giving their lives in order to fight and defeat these evil, cowardly terrorists. The memory and legacy of heroes like Sgt. Vance shouldn't be desecrated by petty political games being played by liberal Democrats who are desperate to hang on to a congressional district seat or two.

After Bill Clinton's behavior in the White House, I figured that Democrats had sunk as low as they could go. I was wrong. Their attacks against the Bush administration these past few days prove that they're really no different from the terrorists. I wonder how Tom Daschle would look in a turban ...

Mike Gallagher is a nationally syndicated talk radio host who also makes frequent appearances on FOX News Channel, CNN, MSNBC and Court TV.

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
Al-Qaeda
Bush Administration
Clinton Scandals
George W. Bush
War on Terrorism

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