'Colossal pettiness' of certain Democrats toward president

Sunday, May 25, 2003

One cannot believe the colossal pettiness of Democrats like Robert Byrd and Henry Waxman protesting a visit by the commander-in-chief to welcome home the forces placed by the Constitution under his command and to thank them for a job well done.

But these are tough times for Bush-bashers who have tried to portray him as a dunce and failed, who predicted Iraq would be another Vietnam, and were wrong, and when Operation Iraqi Freedom proved to be a stunning military success, were reduced to grasping at political straws.

I suspect that what's really upsetting Byrd and Waxman is what took place after the American commander-in-chief landed on the deck of an American aircraft carrier. The wild enthusiasm and genuine affection with which American sailors greeted their commander-in-chief could not have been staged-managed. This was not a mere photo-op. This was not Michael Dukakis riding in a tank looking like that World War I flying ace, Snoopy.

Sen. Byrd said he "could not help but contrast the reported simple dignity of the president at Gettysburg with the flamboyant showmanship of President Bush aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln," strong words from the former Grand Kleagle of the Klu Klux Klan who once wore a different uniform, one made out of a bed sheet.

Ironically, the sour grapes of Henry ("How much did it cost?") Waxman, normally a free-spender of other people's money, and Byrd in the aftermath of American triumph, has caused this "photo-op" to be shown over and over again, repeatedly showing the outpouring of admiration and respect that President Bush met as he made his way around the ship's flight deck.

Unlike his lip-biting predecessor, who loathed the military and who bombed aspirin factories to divert attention from the women he did not have sex with, George W. Bush has proudly warn the uniform of his country, as proudly as have 27 of the 42 men who have been president and all but one since World War II.