The Moose recommends that the donkey should soar like a hawk.
Here is a thought experiment - what would be the Republican response if a Democratic Administration stood fecklessly on the sidelines observing as North Korea and Iran armed themselves with nuclear weapons while our military was severely weakened? Of course, the right would be engaged in apoplectic attacks against the Democratic wimps and appeasers.
Consider this passage in today's Washington Times,
"Global tensions over nuclear proliferation escalated during the weekend when North Korea fired a short-range missile into the East Sea/Sea of Japan, and Iran warned that it might resume enrichment of uranium after the failure of talks with European nations."
And if you feel a little nervous about the evil doers armed to the teeth with the ability to vaporize their victims, here is something else to keep you up at night. The Washington Post frightens us with this headline U.S. Called Unprepared For Nuclear Terrorism.
"Although hundreds of thousands of lives could be saved by rapidly evacuating people downwind of a radiation cloud, officials have trained only small numbers of first responders to prepare for such an event, according to public health specialists and government documents. And the information given to the public is flawed and incomplete, many experts agree."
Perhaps the plan is that the President's private social security accounts will enable us all to purchase state of the art, fail safe bomb shelters!
And despite the President's bellicose rhetoric about the "axis of evil", all the Administration can do about these latest developments is to verbally warn the countries about America's deterrent capability. However, if the evil doers in North Korea and Iran subscribe to the the New York Times, they may not be taking the Administration's warnings too seriously.
This is what the Times reports this morning in a story titled Pentagon Says Iraq Effort Limits Ability to Fight Other Conflicts
"The concentration of American troops and weapons in Iraq and Afghanistan limits the Pentagon's ability to deal with other potential armed conflicts, the military's highest ranking officer reported to Congress on Monday.
"The officer, Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, informed Congress in a classified report that major combat operations elsewhere in the world, should they be necessary, would probably be more protracted and produce higher American and foreign civilian casualties because of the commitment of Pentagon resources in Iraq and Afghanistan."
The gulf between the Administration's perceived national security strength and reality is widening. It is not clear how the Bushies plan to deal with the Iranian threat. As the Moose has suggested, Iran may be the big winner in the Iraq war. Their ally, Chalabi, appears to be ascendant in Iraqi politics.
Meanwhile, the Administration lacks the resources to adequately rebuild the military. By the way, where were the neo-cons when the Bushies lavished tax cuts on their wealthy buddies in the middle of a war thereby depriving the military of critical funds?
This all presents the Democrats with a golden opportunity to move to the right of the Bushies on national security just as JFK did with the Republicans back in '60. Calling Joe, Hillary, Evan, Mark, both Johns, Wesley, Bill... -- | 
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