…also, Barack Obama and Senator Hillary Clinton do not seem to get it.

By “get it” I mean national security. The public seems, however, to be more in line with reality and, coincidently, so does John McCain. Overwhelmingly in a new survey conducted by Gallup, the American public (let’s call them “voters”) agree with John McCain (and again, reality) when they say how we should deal with the situation in Iraq.

That is, voters want the US and our next president to behave responsibly and in the best interests of America:

 It gets worse for Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Nearly two out of every three Americans surveyed (65%) believe “the United States has an obligation to establish a reasonable level of stability and security in Iraq before withdrawing all of its troops.” The reason is self-interest. Almost the same number of Americans (63%) believe al Qaeda “would be more likely to use Iraq as a base for its terrorist operations” if the U.S. withdraws.

Mr. Rove goes on to layout how the Dems have painted themselves into a corner of both political and foreign policy lunacy and describes how it will be perilous to their campaigns in November.

Elections are rarely decided over just one issue; to win, candidates don’t need to have a majority of Americans agreeing with them on every big issue. But when it comes to choosing a president, Americans take seriously the candidates’ views and experience on national security. Voters instinctively understand a president’s principal constitutional responsibility is protecting the country.

The Democrats have two candidates with less national security experience and fewer credentials than the presumptive Republican nominee, Sen. John McCain. And they are compounding these difficulties with positions on Iraq and terrorist surveillance that are shared by a shrinking minority of Americans.

While Barack Obama is out chastising McCain for supporting “Bush’s war”, he seems to be missing some fairly important facts claiming that al-Qaeda was never in Iraq before the war in 2003. That’s all great and everything, except that the facts and the former Iraqi regime disagree. Newly released and translated Iraqi documents reveal a very extensive operation run by Saddam’s regime to recruit, train, and finance terrorism around the world including with the al-Qaeda network and people working within it.

Take these excerpts from a tremendous article found in The Australian:

Newly published Iraqi documents reveal just how extensive Saddam’s involvement with international terrorism was. The summary of these documents, published under the heading Saddam and Terrorism, has been reported across the world and read by almost no one.Its first paragraph reads: “The Iraqi Perspectives Project review of captured Iraqi documents uncovered strong evidence that links the regime of Saddam Hussein to regional and global terrorism. Despite their incompatible long-term goals, many terrorist movements and Saddam found a common enemy in the US.

These documents, researched and translated by the US Institute for Defense Analyses show a major, extensive effort in Saddam’s Iraq to work with terrorist enemies of the US and Israel around the world.

At times these organisations worked together, trading access for capability. In the period after the 1991 Gulf War, the regime of Saddam Hussein supported a complex and increasingly disparate mix of pan-Arab revolutionary causes and emerging pan-Islamic radical movements.

And yes, al-Qaede is among those he was supporting:

It is reasonable to assume the most sensitive stuff in a paranoid state such as Saddam’s was not written down. George Tenet, the former director of the CIA who became broadly an opponent of the Bush administration, states in his memoir as a matter of plain fact that 200 al-Qa’ida fighters relocated to Iraq with Saddam’s permission. Richard Clarke, who was director of counter-terrorism at the National Security Council on 9/11, and who went on to become a bitter foe of the Bush administration and is advising the Democrats, states as plain fact in his memoir that Saddam had engaged in sponsorship of al-Qa’ida.

200! 200 al-Qaeda terrorists were sheltered in Iraq before the fall of his regime. It only took the Greek 300 soldier to hold of the Persians, and yet Barack Obama thinks that 200 terrorists enjoying the shelter of Saddam (freakin!) Hussein isn’t a big deal!

But don’t worry…no one is hearing a thing about it:

We get too little real journalism about these subjects and too much “churnalism”, in which a single sometimes misleading wire report is repeated by thousands of commentators while nobody bothers to read the source document.

…

Acknowledging this support, but saying there’s no smoking gun directly to al-Qa’ida itself, means the report is taking an incredibly restrictive and precise view of al-Qa’ida.

But in any event this report is not claiming, as wrongly reported in the wires, that there was no link with al-Qa’ida, merely that it found no absolute smoking gun in the translated documents.

As Reagan said a while back, facts are stubborn things Barack…stubborn.

Another article (with quick bullet-points) detailing the relationships between Saddam’s Iraq and terrorist groups is here.

A long time ago, I blogged about the Dems tearing each other apart during a couple debates and in the media, and hypothesized that it would have detrimental effects on their ability to pull together this fall. Now my hunch is being confirmed not just by anecdote but through new polling evidence from Franklin & Marshall:

If [FILL preferred candidate] does not win the Democratic nomination, who do
you think you will vote for in the November election? Will you vote for [fill other
candidate], John McCain, some other candidate, or will you probably not vote in the
November election?

Hillary Clinton supporters (n = 228)
53% Barack Obama
19% John McCain
5% Other
13% Won’t vote
10% Don’t know

Barack Obama supporters (n = 126)
60% Hillary Clinton
20% John McCain
3% Other
3% Won’t vote
14% Don’t know

Yes, that’s right John McCain snares about 20% of Dems no matter who he’s running against. So much for he myth of the “Obamacan” Republicans - let’s talk about the McCainocrats!

But wait! It doesn’t stop there! Drudge has posted some new polls from Rassmussen:

 Thursday, March 20, 2008

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Thursday shows John McCain’s lead growing against both potential Democratic opponents. McCain currently leads Barack Obama 49% to 42% and Hillary Clinton 51% to 41% margin (see recent daily results).

Game on!

Fortune magazine has a great piece on Sen. McCain’s Healthcare plan.  It is important that as a party we take the hint from public opinion polls: Americans want a plan to solve the healthcare crisis!  We have an excellent opportunity here to define the context of real solutions: are we going to have free market healthcare, where doctors and patients make decisions? or are we going to bow to D.C. beauracrats.  We need to be talking about this, and we need to be loud.

Let’s all hearken back to about a year ago, and remember what the situation in Iraq was like. The media was reporting dire circumstances, no political progress, and high death tolls on a nearly daily basis. In response, approval for the war effort was low - and the election prospects for people like Sen. John McCain were dim.

Fast forward to the present, and we are experiencing success on multiple fronts in Iraq as deaths of both Americans and Iraqis have plummeted, political progress is being made, and the terrorists and Muqtada al-Sadr are giving up and moving to Iran.

And what of the stories telling the fatal tale of John McCain being the largest proponent of the proven successful surge strategy? Well, let’s go to the polls:

According to late February polling conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, 53 percent of Americans — a slim majority — now believe “the U.S. will ultimately succeed in achieving its goals” in Iraq. That figure is up from 42 percent in September 2007.

The percentage of those who believe the war in Iraq is going “very well” or “fairly well” is also up, from 30 percent in February 2007 to 48 percent today.

As I’ve always said, Americans love to win - and as long as we have leaders like John McCain in America, we will win.

you know you must be doing something right.  AFL-CIO Briefing Book

Update

 Here is what he is doing right

I want you (whoever you are) to watch both of these videos:

Now, tell me who is prepared to lead our country? Who is ready to be Commander-in-Chief? Who is inspiring?

Barack Obama vs. John McCain is a battle we can and will win - the country will make the right choice come November.

The AZ CR federation has endorsed their guy:

 March 4, 2008

For Immediate Release

AZ College Republicans congratulate Senator McCain on nomination

Phoenix, AZ – On March 4th, 2008 the Arizona Federation of College Republicans congratulated and offered their full support to Senator John McCain who officially clinched the Republican Party nomination for President.

“As an Arizonan I could not be more proud to offer my full support and that of the Arizona College Republicans to our Senator,” said TJ Shope, Chairman of the College Republicans. “We will dedicate all our energy to sending Senator McCain, who has served Arizona so well, to the White House.”

The Arizona Federation of College Republicans, with its 5,000+ members on six campuses across the state is the premier grassroots organization of Arizona, dedicated to promoting Republican principles and electing Republicans at every level of government.

###

Congrats to Senator McCain! We look forward to your candidacy and your presidency.

And good luck to the Arizona CR’s this fall.