Saying U.S. troops were capable of responding to ambush attacks in Iraq, President Bush maintained Wednesday such violence would not undercut his resolve to keep Americans there until stability was restored. “My answer is: Bring them on,” he said of the hit-and-run attackers.

--MSNBC

If I ever have a chance to sit down and talk with Bill Clinron, here's the question I want to ask him: Why were you never able to do something like this? Why were you never able to put your critics on the defensive in the midst of a screw-up by making a defiant, bombastic, macho declaration like this?

This is a time-honored right-wing technique. It's essentially what Ollie North did when he went before Congress -- he told his questioners that he was the living embodiment of Right and Truth and Americanism and he didn't give a damn what they thought because who the hell were they to criticize him or Saint Reagan, and not only did the general public all but forget after that that he and his president had violated the law of the land and used the Constitution as toilet paper, but he became, briefly, a national hero.

Why can't Democrats ever do something like this? Is it because we don't really believe we have a monopoly on truth and morality, the way so many Republicans do? Is it because it's presumed in this country that all politicians lie about everything, except Republicans when they talk about foreign foes?