Alter – the world – and American foreign policy – will be far better now that the mercenaries known as blackwater are gone from Iraq. They did incredible damage to our reputation in Iraq and as a result cost countless American lives thanks to their cowboy tactics and shoot first, shoot second method. I say good riddance and bring on the federal IGs/ prosecutors to investigate blackwater and the lawless mercs who make up that organization for criminal actions in Iraq and questionable contracting issues in America.

Leadership is proving alot tougher than rhetoric now isn’t it Mark? Oh, what to do, what to do.

Of course, Mark is a little extreme in his desire to see an investigation.

We have a future ahead of us, and it’s going to take some amazingly dynamic people to lead us successfully into that future. After meeting Michael Steele, I don’t see how anyone could NOT come away with hope for that future. But for those who weren’t as equally impressed with him, that’s your perrogative. But, it’s a misused perrogative to sit back and complain now about what you think is not going to happen. We have a future ahead of us; and if we want this to be a fantastic future, we can only look within ourselves to see what we’re going to make of it. Why start cutting it down before we even get there?

I, personally, am looking forward to the charisma and personality that Steele will bring to the Republican Party. God knows we need it. And, we need to stop all of the backward thinking and commenting amongst ourselves. If we can’t present a positive future within our own ranks, how can expect anyone else to take that from us?

Mark perhaps you & Michael Moore can collaborate on “George Bush Moved My Cheese”.

- 2 wars, neither fought successfully
- Lied to America to get into Iraq
- Failed to protect America on 9/11
- Gave those who were responsible for failing to protect America medals of Freedom
- Tried to cut the pay of the military
- Failed to provide for the healthcare needs of the military/ tried to cut the VA
- Made mercenaries a way of our life in order to transfer wealth to political supporters
- Mercenaries made our military’s job tougher in Iraq by indescriminately killing
- Mercenaries made us look like fools to the world as they violated the laws of Armed conflict
- Violated domestic and international law by endorsing torture
- Turned much of the world against us by using torture, going it alone, opening Guantanamo, tacitly approving Abu Garib (though only enlisted were punished) and generally having the worst foreign policy in our nation’s history
- Politicized the reconstruction of Iraq with early 20 something children who had worked on the campaign – and didn’t know what they were doing, rather than allowing State to use the professionals – leading directly to the unnecessary deaths of American servicepersonnel
- Allowing Rummy to play out his war, his way ignoring the professionals and thus not having enough troops, killing additional Americans unnecessarily
- Generally treating the military – as Joe Scarborough put it the other morning: the GOP has been treating the military like little toy soldiers to be played with on a map
- The fact that both he and Cheney are draft dodgers doesn’t help
- Politicizing career positions at DOJ, EPA, etc
- Politicizing prosecutions by federal prosecutors – including firing GOP prosecutors, one of whom I know, for not prosecuting democrats enough…

Bush was an awful President who damaged our nation and is directly responsible for the deaths of American citizens and the unnecessary deaths of American servicemen and women. Of course I’m pissed, I want to see his ass investigated and, if necessary, prosecuted. We are all EQUAL under the law, it is the Constitution that makes our nation great, not the people who live under it. If the President and his lackys choose to ignore or flaunt the law, and moreover, if their actions get Americans killed or are illegal, they should all be held accountable. Our nation and our military is not some plaything.

The fact is Michael Steele’s election has proved it to me that the Republicans will not change in the direction they need to. They can expect to be in the minority for quite some time to come.

Here is what another conservative has to say about this.

http://preview.tinyurl.com/deacesteelernc

“A political party cannot be all things to all people. It must represent certain fundamental beliefs which must not be compromised to political expediency or simply to swell its numbers.” ~ Ronald Reagan, 1975

“I don’t know about you, but I’m impatient with those Republicans who, after the last election, rushed into print saying we must broaden the base of our party, when what they meant was to fuzz up and blur even more the differences between ourselves and our opponents.” ~ Ronald Reagan, 1975

I don’t quote Reagan to look back but to look forward, because he’s right. As Steele said, we don’t win by being Democrat-lite. But we do need to clearly communicate that our ideas include all people. They aren’t old white male ideas. Single moms also want to keep more of the money they earn. Asians are punished by race based quotas in our publicly funded colleges and universities. Small business owners from the Middle East are punished by tax rates that discourage achievement. African-American and Hispanic boys and girls are most penalized by a system that is more concerned with protecting union members than educating children who are trapped in failing, inner-city schools.

We need to highlight these realities. And then, we need to support our rising GOP leaders who share our principles – especially women and minorities who can not only articulate those principles but demonstrate that our ideas are for everyone.

It’ll be interesting to see how he – an intellectual – will face off against Palin for the future of the party in the coming years.