The Responsibility of Dissent

The responsibility of dissent: that is the subject of this evening's "Talking Points Memo."

With a big election in Iraq tomorrow, the future of that country may be changing for the better. I talked with FOX News analyst General Thomas McInerney last night. He's just back from Iraq. And he believes U.S. forces are skillfully dismantling the insurgency.

Also, a chart in The New York Times today says there has been a rise in Iraqis informing on the insurgents. That's vital. By the way, we will have a "Factor" world exclusive tomorrow. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld will be right here to discuss the Iraqi vote.

Now I'm not cheerleading the war, but I do want the USA to win and believe it's possible. As always, it could be wrong. But I resent people like Howard Dean, who seem to want things to go bad in Iraq. And liberal Time magazine writer Joel Klein says the exact same thing in his column this week.

That brings us to Congressman Jack Murtha, who is firmly convinced the USA is losing in Iraq. He said it again today. But I want to know how Murtha has reached that conclusion? What data is he basing his assertion on?

As you may know, Murtha will not talk with me. Is that responsible? This is by far the highest rated prime time daily news program in the country. Why wouldn't Murtha want to engage this audience?

Murtha did appear on "Meet The Press" with Tim Russert, but a transcript of that interview shows most of it was about Murtha's contention and reaction to it, not how Murtha knows we are losing.

Of course, Congressman Murtha could be right and his dissent has certainly spurred debate, but it has also given the anti-Bush media, which we'll discuss coming up, a huge amount of bashing material.

While Senator Joseph Lieberman's opposite opinion, he thinks we'll win, was almost ignored by the elite media.

If the Iraq election goes well tomorrow, then I call upon Murtha to reconsider his defeatist stance or at least come in here and discuss it. If Murtha does not do that, I can't really respect his point of view.

And that's "The Memo."

The Most Ridiculous Item of the Day

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