ODDS & ENDS . . .
THE PRESIDENT MAKES HIS CASE
Cal Thomas (archive)
June 29, 2005
Perhaps not since his post-9/11 address to Congress has President Bush laid out with such clarity the purpose and cost of war against terrorism and for the liberation and emancipation of Iraq.
He answered his critics who had been asking to know the goal, and the methods he intends to employ to reach it, as well as an indication of when the troops might start coming home.
Americans are used to instant oatmeal and instant replays, and they need to understand there can be no instant war with instant results. President Bush repeated Tuesday night that this war will take time; it will cost a lot of money and lives, and it will not be over soon. World wars never are, and the president said troops across the world are fighting a global war on terror.
You can read the rest of the article at
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/calthomas/ct20050629.shtml
WIDOW TELLS BUSH TO STAY THE COURSE IN IRAQ WAR
By Bill Sammon
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
June 30, 2005
President Bush, who met with relatives of fallen soldiers before Tuesday's Fort Bragg speech, was urged to stay the course in Iraq by a woman who gave him a bracelet honoring her late husband.
"I said: 'I know people are pushing you, but please don't pull the guys out of Iraq too soon,'?" said Crystal Owen, whose husband, Staff Sgt. Mike Owen, was killed in Iraq last year.
"Don't let my husband -- and 1,700-plus other deaths -- be in vain," she added during a private meeting with Mr. Bush at the North Carolina base. "They were over there, fighting for a democratic nation, and I hope you'll keep our service members over there until the mission can be accomplished."
Mrs. Owen gave the president a stainless steel bracelet engraved with the names of her husband and another soldier, Cpl. John Santos, both of whom were killed on Oct. 15.
The president slipped the bracelet on his left wrist and wore it throughout his 28-minute prime-time address to the nation, becoming visibly emotional at times.
"We have lost good men and women who left our shores to defend freedom and did not live to make the journey home," he said as his eyes turned glassy. "I've met with families grieving the loss of loved ones who were taken from us too soon."
You can read the rest of the article at
http://washtimes.com/national/20050630-124908-7077r.htm
[Note: I posted another article featuring this same widow on last night's DOSE.]
BEST OF THE WEB
BY JAMES TARANTO
Thursday, June 30, 2005 3:23 p.m. EDT
Dems' Guru Questions Their Patriotism
Remember George Lakoff, the Berkeley linguist whose (actually quite banal) advice on how to "frame" issues the Democrats have been lapping up? Check out the first paragraph of an essay he contributed yesterday to the Huffington Post:
"For a while last week, the Democrats were doing better at framing the issues. The poll numbers showed that Bush's approval rating was down, that around 60% of the voters had turned against the Iraq War, that support for Bush on his handling of 911 and terrorism was lower, but still pretty high."
Lakoff has just said that a political goal of the Democratic Party is to turn the American people against the war the country is now fighting. Perhaps the Dems will now demand that Lakoff desist from questioning their patriotism.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/best/?id=110006892
LOOKS LIKE A MUST READ:
100 PEOPLE WHO ARE SCREWING UP AMERICA : (and Al Franken Is #37)
by Bernard Goldberg
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0060761288/ref=pd_ts_b_66/104-1145432-2268741?v=glance&s=books&n=1000
"100 PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN SCREWING UP AMERICA"