JUST BASIC DECENCY
Saddam Hussein was a murderer and an evil dictator and any genuine leftist has little choice but support his overthrow. Because he is a good, decent human being, Edwards offers robust support (in his speech to the DNC last night) for Operation Iraqi Freedom:

EDWARDS: John understands personally about fighting in a war. And he knows what our brave men and women are going through right now in another war, the war in Iraq.

The human cost and the extraordinary heroism of this war, it surrounds us. It surrounds us in our cities and our towns. And we'll win this war because of the strength and courage of our own people.

Some of our friends and neighbors, they saw their last images in Baghdad. Some took their last steps outside of Fallujah. Some buttoned their uniform for the last time before they went out and saved their unit.

Men and women who used to take care of themselves, they now count on others to see them through the day. They need their mother to tie their shoe, their husband to brush their hair, their wife's arm to help them across the room.

The stars and stripes wave for them. The word "hero" was made for them. They are the best and the bravest. And they will never be left behind...

Like all of those brave men and women, John put his life on the line for our country. He knows that when authority is given to a president, much is expected in return.

That's why we will strengthen and modernize our military. We will double our Special Forces. We will invest in the new equipment and technologies so that our military remains the best equipped and best prepared in the world. This will make our military stronger. It'll make sure that we can defeat any enemy in this new world.

But we can't do this alone. We have got to restore our respect in the world to bring our allies to us and with us.

(APPLAUSE)

It is how we won the Cold War. It is how we won two World Wars. And it is how we will build a stable Iraq.

(APPLAUSE)

With a new president who strengthens and leads our alliances, we can get NATO to help secure Iraq. We can ensure that Iraq's neighbors, like Syria and Iran, don't stand in the way of a democratic Iraq. We can help Iraq's economy by getting other countries to forgive their enormous debt and participate in the reconstruction.

EDWARDS: We can do this for the Iraqi people. We can do it for our own soldiers. And we will get this done right.

Brilliant. Except for the fantasy about help from NATO, I support every word. But But can Edwards can stop the slide of the Democrats into the Michael Moore mentality? And Kerry, after all, began his career by slandering the soldiers in Vietnam and telling the Senate about the "last man to die for a mistake."