Choosing Sides

General Petraeus delivered a highly anticipated report to Congress regarding the status of the situation on the ground in Iraq, post-surge. He, along with Ambassador Crocker, pummeled senators with a dizzying number of facts, statistics, charts and anecdotes, all of which signaled remarkable progress in Iraq. Disappointed and delusional Democrats, salivating with dreams of an American military defeat, were hard at work for the past week trying to undermine the Patraeus report even before he had the chance to deliver it. Democrats and left-wing groups teamed up and roundly impugned the General's integrity. It's a crafty strategy, as it allows elected Democrats to cover their true shades and offer lip service to the troops and to the General, all the while freeing up the operatives in their fringe base to spew forth venomous calumny. Today, the New York Times featured a despicable full-page add sponsored by Moveon.org (surprise) that mercilessly slandered the General and played with his name, referring to him as "General Betray Us."

Moveon.org and many Democratic members of Congress, abandoning any pretext of patriotism and objectivity, implied that the esteemed General was a nothing but a White House proxy, sent by Bush to "cook the books" and deceive Americans into supporting a "failed" mission. The add went on to say:

"Cooking the books for the White House: General Petraeus is a military man constantly at war with the facts."

Today, Democratic Congressman Lantos lectured the General with icy words:

"The fact remains, gentlemen, that the administration has sent you here today to convince the members of these two committees and the Congress that victory is at hand. With all due respect to you, I must say: I don't buy it."

Democratic Majority Leader Reid said the following about Petraeus:

"He's made a number of statements over the...years that have not proven to be factual. I have every belief that this good man, General Petraeus, will give us, uh, what he feels, uh, is the right thing to do in this report that is now not his report, it's -- it's President Bush's report."

Democrat Senator Durbin had this to say:

"By carefully manipulating the statistics, the Bush-Petraeus report will try to persuade us that violence in Iraq is decreasing and the surge is working. Even if the figures are right, the conclusion's wrong."

Whatever that means.

And to round off the pageant of cantankerous Democrats we have Senator Biden, commenting on Petraeus:

"I think he's dead, flat, wrong. The fact of the matter is that there is -- that this idea of the security gains that we've made have had no impact on the underlying sectarian dynamic. None! None! Whatsoever."

Even during General Petraeus' presentation, malcontents from the communist-leaning group Code Pink repeatedly interrupted with insane outbursts and shrills: "That's a lie!" "General Petraeus, Americans don't believe you!"

So Americans can choose with whom to side: General Petraeus or the deranged band of irrelevant clowns on full display this afternoon in Congress. Gen. Petraeus was brilliant; his report shines like the magnificent silver stars and accoutrements on his uniform. The Democrats and the paunchy protesters, with their pink paper tiaras, were simply being themselves: a laughable and hopelessly passé bunch of intransigents. Irony reaches a lofty peak when we contemplate that it is the American soldier who fights for the freedom of expression that allows treacherous gangs like these to make fools of themselves. Et tu Brute?