Coulter vs Kristol and Cheney

My first reaction to Michael Steele's comments on the Afghanistan war was that he was spot on. After all, Obama was the one who has been talking tough on Afghanistan for the last three years. And then I saw Bill Kristol and Liz Cheney attack Steele on Fox News Sunday, I thought they were going way overboard.

Ann Coulter agrees, and in this essay, calls for the "resignation" of Bill Kristol and Liz Cheney. Coulter writes:

Obama hasn't ramped up the war in Afghanistan based on a careful calculation of America's strategic objectives. He did it because he was trapped by his own rhetorical game of bashing the Iraq war while pretending to be a hawk on Afghanistan. At this point, Afghanistan is every bit as much Obama's war as Vietnam was Lyndon Johnson's war.

...

Republicans used to think seriously about deploying the military. President Eisenhower sent aid to South Vietnam, but said he could not "conceive of a greater tragedy" for America than getting heavily involved there.

As Michael Steele correctly noted, every great power that's tried to stage an all-out war in Afghanistan has gotten its ass handed to it. Everyone knows it's not worth the trouble and resources to take a nation of rocks and brigands.

And then there is this:

But now I hear it is the official policy of the Republican Party to be for all wars, irrespective of our national interest...Nonetheless, Bill Kristol and Liz Cheney have demanded that Steele resign as head of the RNC for saying Afghanistan is now Obama's war -- and a badly thought-out one at that. (Didn't liberals warn us that neoconservatives want permanent war?)

I thought the irreducible requirements of Republicanism were being for life, small government and a strong national defense, but I guess permanent war is on the platter now, too. .

I don't know what the right answer is, but I think this is a healthy discussion. By the way, Limbaugh said on Tuesday that Steele was "half right", and since I am a "dittohead" who doesn't think for myself, I agree with Rush.