Believe in the American People

Both Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and Vice President Dick Cheney need to take a vacation, especially from the New York Times and Washington Post. Newspapers nationwide are reporting that Vice President Dick Cheney and Vermont Senator Pat Leahy had a heated exchange on the Senate floor after taking the official session photograph. Leahy mistakenly greeted the Vice President in a "lighthearted" way, while attacking the Vice President just days before -- asserting that Cheney gave preferential treatment to his old company Halliburton when awarding military contracts. Them are fightin' words. Earlier in the week, no doubt because of the extreme frustration of reading the "elite" media's take on the Iraq War, Paul Wolfowitz before a congressional committee said, "Frankly, part of our problem...is a lot of press are afraid to travel very much. So they sit in Baghdad, and they publish rumors." Of course, Wolfowitz has subsequently "apologized" for his statement.

Both Cheney and Wolfowitz, and for that matter the President's entire foreign policy team need to take a vacation from the daily fodder and focus on the reality that is Iraq and elsewhere. The president is doing well in state-by-state polls and the last thing the President needs are unhinged advisors causing him more headaches. I respect Cheney and Wolfowitz's inability to pander to the Democrats and their media machine. Real men of principle don't shake hands with the likes of Pat Leahy and play nice. However, ignoring him is the better option. The Bush Administration must trust in the American people to make the right decision in November. They need to remember in Grand Rapids and Columbus and Reno and Tallahassee few know who Maureen Dowd is and fewer give a damn about what she has to say.