Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Only a fool chooses to fight a war on two fronts

Military historians agree that the doom of the Third Reich was sealed on the day that Hitler decided to invade the Soviet Union, thus opening a second front in the war. Fighting on two fronts forces you to disperse your forces between multiple threats and almost guarantees that you will be forced onto a defensive posture. And as every military strategists knows, the best you can achieve when fighting on the defensive is to delay your ultimate defeat.

What is true in war is often true in politics as well and that is so in this case. No political party should ever seek a conflict which will require it to fight on two fronts. Yet that is what Republicans seem poised to do.

We all remember what a close thing the battle to defeat amnesty was, don't we? What made the fight so difficult was the fact that not only did the congressional leadership favor amnesty but the president was behind the measure as well. The Republicans who made up the only force opposing amnesty were hampered in their efforts by the fact that their own president kept trying to slip a knife in their backs.

When you cannot turn your full attention to the enemy in front of you, but must also constantly fight off attacks from the rear you must divide your forces and are denied the opportunity to concentrate your resources for an attack.

If the Republican Party chooses John McCain as its presidential candidate and if the Party is unfortunate enough to actually win the general election with McCain at the head of the ticket (unlikely, but still possible) Republicans in congress will find themselves spending the next four years (or maybe even eight years) fighting a vicious two front war as they constantly fight off attacks from both the Democrats in congress and the White House.

Make no mistake about it. With the single exception of the Surge McCain's entire history as a Senator consists of picking the issues upon which a defeat would do the GOP and the nation the maximum amount of harm and cooperating with Democrats to make that Republican defeat happen.

Whether it is further curbs on free speech, gun control, tax policy, amnesty for alien criminals or the US buying into the hysteria of global warming junk science (and thereby ruining its economy) Republicans will find themselves pinned down by a withering crossfire as they are shot at from both Capitol Hill and the White House.

Understand that for this scenario to play out the president must be a turncoat Republican, not a Democrat. If the White House and Congress are both controlled by Democrats then Republicans have one enemy to fight - Democrats. This was the case in the first two years of Clinton's first term when Republicans managed to kill Hillary's socialized medicine scheme. In this situation Republicans have shown themselves able to preform brilliantly highlighting the differences between the Democrat Party and the GOP so well that they gained control of both houses of the legislature.

It is only when a Republican president attempts to move the Democrat agenda forward (as Bush has tried to do a number of times) that congressional Republicans find themselves at such a serious disadvantage. And that disadvantage would become a constant fixture of a McCain administration as President McCain [spit] sought to advance the liberal agenda in every way possible.

Do not allow this to happen. Do not vote for John McCain in the primaries and if he gains the nomination do not vote for him in the general election.

The Bible tells us that an enemy who looks you in the eye and tells you he is your enemy is better than a "friend" who smiles at you then stabs you in the back. John McCain is the very definition of the backstabbing false friend. Do not trust him.