The LA Times has an article today I find rather disturbing and it gives us a
closer look into the way the Republican Party thinks:

WASHINGTON — With disputes raging about Iraq, domestic surveillance and
the Patriot Act, President Bush faces more resistance from Democrats on a
number of his national security policies than at any point since the
terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

And that’s just the way many Republicans like it.

Although the heightened Democratic assertiveness has created legislative
headaches for the White House, it also has sharpened the differences between
the parties on security issues — something many Republican strategists see
as essential to rebuilding the GOP’s strength as the 2006 political season
gears up.

These strategists believe that despite widespread public unease about the
war in Iraq, a heightened contrast on defense and terrorism issues will make
it easier for them to portray Democrats as the party of “defeat and retreat
abroad,” as Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), a former executive director of the
Republican National Committee, wrote in a recent memo to colleagues.

View complete article

here.

The Republicans are asserting that the Patriot Act is such a vital tool in
the war on terror yet they enjoy the fact it might not be passed purely for
political concerns. That don’t seem like a party who is concerned over national
security but rather a party who is strictly political in their judgments.

In the same argument, Democrats know that this could haunt them yet they feel
strong enough that the Patriot Act is not right that they are willing to risk
that. They are using their judgment and not their political futures to rule this
country. To me that is true leadership.

Congratulations Democrats for standing by your convictions and not by pure
partisan politics.