Winds of war

The week starts off with the politics of war heightening, after some of the weekend news shows escalated the threats and warnings. Threats and warnings, that is, within Washington’s partisan politics.

Sen. John McCain sought to weaken support for a resolution opposing President Bush’s Iraq war strategy Sunday, saying proponents are intellectually dishonest.

On the eve of a possible congressional showdown on Iraq strategy, McCain contended the bipartisan proposal amounted to a demoralizing “vote of no confidence” in the U.S. military.

The measure criticizes Bush’s plan to add 21,500 troops in Iraq yet offers no concrete alternatives, he said.

“I don’t think it’s appropriate to say that you disapprove of a mission and you don’t want to fund it and you don’t want it to go, but yet you don’t take the action necessary to prevent it,” said McCain, top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee and a 2008 presidential candidate from Arizona…

“I do believe that if you really believe that this is doomed to failure and is going to cost American lives, then you should do what’s necessary to prevent it from happening rather than a vote of ’disapproval,”’ McCain said.

“This is a vote of no confidence in both the mission and the troops who are going over there,” he said, noting the proposal does not seek to cut off money for troops.

I like the call for intellectual honesty. Politicians and the mainstream media should all practice it. Lay the cards on the table, state your convictions and mean it, have an honest debate based on evidence and reason. Be as liberal or conservative as you are inclined to be, but be honest about it and make your case. Then, even if the winds of public opinion determine the direction of political decisions, it will at least be informed.