Lazy Gopher Pachyderm

I can only surmise that the news in Iraq must be good.

So good that Democrat leaders were, at first, not going to attend a classified briefing given by General Petraeus, the U.S. commander in Iraq. House Minority Leader John Boehner correctly called them on it (“a dereliction of duty”) and they’ve since decided to attend and learn about what it is they’ve been blathering about these many weeks and months. But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has no problem going out of her way to meet with terrorist supporters like Syrian President Bashar Assad, will not attend the Wednesday briefing by the commander of our efforts in Iraq. “Scheduling conflict” and all that….

This is a telling decision. Pelosi has presented Iraq as her top concern and constantly rails on and on about it as though she’s some kind of expert. We’ve heard cry after cry from the Democrats for more ‘oversight’ of the Iraq war effort. So why does she still (and all Democrat leaders initially) choose not attend the briefing?

Redstate culls a revealing remark from Roll Call:

“The [Democratic] aides said that sending Petraeus is an effort to blunt Democratic criticism of the war.”

How could a classified briefing from Petraeus “blunt Democratic criticism of the war” unless the information contained in the briefing doesn’t support what the Defeatocrats…er, Democrats, have been saying?

Roll Call also relates a nice zinger from Boehner:

“…If I were delaying funding for his soldiers, I wouldn't want to look the General in the eyes either…”

Applying Occam’s Razor, it can only be that Democrats are not really serious about the issue, except for whatever political gain can be had. Attending a bi-partisan briefing when you’re not assured of fodder for the evening news is a waste of time if your only true goal is fodder for the evening news.

Bottom line; don’t confuse Pelosi and her party with the facts. Iraq and the War on Terror are about victories for Democrats over Republicans, not victory for the U.S. over its enemies. To quote columnist Debra J. Saunders:

On "60 Minutes" recently, Arizona's Republican Sen. John McCain said, "I'd rather lose a campaign than lose a war." Does anyone believe the same of Nancy Pelosi?