The Black Republican

More than anyone else I've read recently, Brendan Miniter "gets it".

Terrorism is, of course, the big issue now facing America. That's not to say George W. Bush is of the stature of a Lincoln or even that the war on terror is as serious of an issue as the dissolution of the union. Today's war isn't even as divisive as the Vietnam War had become by the late 1960s. Fighting terrorism, however, is increasingly dividing this country--and not always along party lines. There are two distinctive camps developing. One comprised of Americans who don't think the war is something that should touch their everyday lives. And another that sees combating terrorism as a fundamental struggle not just between good and evil but also over the soul of this nation--a struggle over who we are, as a people, and what we will tolerate on the world stage.

On the flip side, I saw this during my once-a-quarter trip through The Fourth Turning:

But in recent months, the GOP and the Bush White House have suddenly faced a new, increasingly chilly reception from men and women in uniform. There are the growing ranks of retired generals who have turned Bush critics, like Gen. Anthony Zinni, former head of the U.S. Central Command and a special envoy to the Middle East. Zinni endorsed Bush in 2000, but recently during a particularly scathing public critique compared Iraq war strategy to a "brain fart" emitted from a Bush "policy wonk."

But perhaps more troubling for Bush is the increasing frustration and anger being voiced by officers and enlisted personnel alike. It's a frustration fueled not only by the unexpectedly difficult military situation in Iraq and the absence of a clear exit strategy, but by broken promises over veterans issues. Could 2004 be the year when the military vote swings to the Democrats? That might seem too farfetched a hope for Democrats, who have watched the military become a solidly Republican bloc over the past 30 years, to the point where a recent study found Republicans outnumber Democrats 8-to-1 among today's officers. But that trend, at least, could very well come to an end -- and the entry of four-star Gen. Wesley Clark into the presidential race as a Democrat and powerful Bush critic surely helps.

This was written back on October 2, so Eric Boehlert's prescience is obviously more than lacking. But I found it an interesting how disconnected two opinions can be of the same events. Mr. Boehlert's heavy reliance on David Hackworth is telling, since I've seen Col. Hackworth (a fierce opponent of Mr. Rumsfeld's modernization strategy) turn into a shrill naysayer since immediately after the start of the Iraq war. If he really does get tons of mail from military folk opposing this Administration, it must be a moths-to-the-flame kind of thing, where he's only hearing from people who agree with him. I'll admit I don't talk to a lot of military men lately, but those I have don't talk like this.

I think John Edwards may be right - there are two Americas - but they aren't Rich America and Poor America. They are the two America's Mr. Miniter describes, that Charles Johnson would parse as Idiotarian and Anti-Idiotarian. Apparently Boehlert, Hackworth, and the rest of the nuts at ThinkingPeace.com (check out some of their other stuff) are on the other side of that fence from me, which is why I don't see what they see.