Congressman Tom Davis with George Mason RWC delegates to the 2006 Virginia Federation Convention

Bush as Dissident

Natan Sharansky, Soviet Gulag survivor, former Israeli deputy prime minister and current Knesset member, writes in today's Wall Street Journal that George W. Bush is a dissident President. "Political leaders made the rarest of dissidents. In a democracy, a leader's lifeline is the electorate's pulse...Bush is..an exception..a man fired by a deep belief in the universal appeal of freedom, its transformative power, and its critical connection to international peace and stability." Believing that President Bush sees this stance as a moral necessity and a backing away, as his political enemies call for, a moral failure, Sharansky, who shares this belief, supports Mr Bush. This entire argument takes me back to the afternoon of September 11, 2001 and the chorus from the left that began that day to wail about "why they hate us." The answer was always our cold war policy of supporting dictators, and poverty and lack of freedom in the Middle East. It seems to me that the great irony encompassing the relentless and endless criticism coming from the left is that Mr. Bush is addressing those concerns they all expressed from the beginning. The difference seems to be that he actually believes what he is saying and in what he is doing. Mr. Sharansky concludes with "Now that President Bush is increasingly alone in pushing for freedom, I can only hope that his dissident spirit will continue to persevere. For should that spirit break, evil will indeed triumph, and the consequences for our world would be disastrous." The President has said from the beginning, and reiterated today, this is a long battle, but victory is assured if the nation perseveres. The fate of the nation does not seem to matter to the left as much as their collective and personal ambitions. It is therefore, up to those of us who support this President and this administration to speak up, stand up, and be counted. President Bush talks about the consequences for our children and grandchildren--we should be thinking and acting on those concerns as well. LL

CAUTION - IMAGES FROM IRAQ: TOO GRAPHIC FOR NATIONAL MEDIA

CAUTION - IMAGES FROM IRAQ: TOO GRAPHIC FOR NATIONAL MEDIA