One of the potential results of congressional Democrats forcing the issue of withdrawing U.S. forces from Iraq by a date certain is the rallying of legions of citizens who recognize the lunacy of announcing to our enemies when we will be gone.
There are lots of problems with the Bush administration’s handling of the Iraq conflict, to be sure, but most people outside of Congress probably intuitively grasp the basic, common sense logic of the proposition that announcing to the world when we will leave is tantamount to raising a white flag of surrender.
The Internet has provided opponents of the Iraq war with an incredibly effective tool for organizing their forces. Now we may see if the Internet can also be used effectively to organize and project the voices of those who see nothing to be gained by the U.S. giving up and getting out of Iraq.
“We Win, They Lose” may be the ticket for catalyzing opposition to the surrender-date lobby in Congress and the mainstream media. The brainchild of Patrick Ruffini, one of the top online political strategists on the right side of the Blogosphere, the new site features a petition addressed to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi proclaiming the following:
“Congress has passed and President Bush has vetoed H.R. 1591, the Iraq Surrender Act of 2007.
“This legislation, which you worked to pass, sets a timetable for surrender. It pulls the rug out from under our troops. That is shameful and wrong.
“Your actions have already emboldened the enemy. Violent jihadists now know that the elected leadership of Congress would undermine the troops by holding their funding hostage to demands for surrender.
“This Congress would bring us back to the dark days of the 1970s, when the world doubted our staying power. Except only much worse. Withdraw in April 2008, and on May 1,
Iraq
“I stand with our troops. I stand for victory. I support the President’s veto and will urge my representatives to vote to sustain it.
“There can be one and only one outcome in
Ruffini has assembled an impressive list of Blogosphere heavyweights, including Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit, Lorie Byrd of Wizbang, Erick Erickson, Ben Domenech and Victoria Gardner Coates of Red State, Rob Bluey of The Heritage Foundation’s Center for Media and Public Policy, Jim Hoft of Gateway Pundit and Bryan Preston of Hot Air.
“We Win, They Lose” follows The Victory Caucus, another new site that seeks to mobilize and focus online supporters of the U.S. war effort in Iraq, The Victory Caucus is led by Dean Barnett of HughHewitt.com, Ed Morrissey of Captain’s Quarters, Austin Bay, Reagan administration defense strategist Frank Gaffney, Matthew Currier Burden, Hugh Hewitt, “Publius” and “Joe Gish.”
Sooner or later, one or more of these efforts is going to catch fire on the Right side of the Blogosphere and when it does, it could fundamentally change the dynamic of the 2008 presidential and congressional campaigns.
And if none of these efforts catches fire, that will say something fundamental about the direction of American politics, too.
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