Andrew Moveon.Horne Retreats Back To Vote Vets

Having laid down his rifle in the Kentucky Senate race, the Paradoxical Colonel has apparently resumed "carrying the water," as he might put it, for Vote Vets. The Park Avenue group's web site reports "Lt. Col. Andrew Horne, USMC (ret.)" as back on its roster of "Senior Advisers", after having deserted the post during his short-lived candidacy.

The retreating troops apparently are attempting to regroup and stage a last stand that would make General Custer proud. MSNBC reports that Vote Vets is "part of a larger effort by a consortium of liberal groups, joined today in a conference call with reporters by John and Elizabeth Edwards, against not just McCain but also targeted Republicans."

And guess who one of those targeted Republicans is? Of course, it is the Senator against whom Horne was "not afraid to lose." As the head of Moveon.org -- the commander-in-chief of Vote Vets -- disclosed:

The group’s "top-tier" targets . . . are four senators -- Maine’s Susan Collins, New Hampshire John Sununu, Minnesota’s Norm Coleman, and Kentucky’s Mitch McConnell.

Funny, given that Vote Vets claims to be "non-partisan", there's not a single Democrat in the group.

John Solz, the president of Vote Vets, "gave a preview of what the group’s tactics against McCain will be in the fall":

We’re going to continue to target Sen. McCain between now and the election,” Soltz said, adding. “We’re not going to disparage his service…. He served with honor, but when it comes to his policy on Iraq, he is no different than George W. Bush.”

So does that mean the verminous veterans will now accuse of McCain "aiding the enemy" and being a "coward" and "chickenhawk"? Those are, after all, Vote Vets' favorite rants against people who do not agree with their cut and run strategy in Iraq.

When it comes to the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate, Horne knows a little something about cutting and running. Now we know the DemoBlogs take the position that Horne is the victim of a vast Left-Wing conspiracy to force him out from the race. Chuck Schumer, however, takes no prisoners.

Please note: The postings of "G. Morris", written by John K. Bush and which end in 2016, stated his views as of the dates of posting and should not be understood as current assertions of his views. The postings, which have not been altered since they came to an end, remain on this blog to preserve the historical record. In 2017, Mr. Bush took a position that precludes further public political comments or endorsements. He will no longer be contributing to this blog.

The Left Reacts to Horne's Departure

Several themes emerge from comments on Demo-blogs in the hours following Andrew Horne's announcement that he is ending his campaign for U.S. Senate.

First, this wing of the Democrat party -- aggressive, vocal Horne backers -- had no idea that Horne planned to drop out. None. That led to much speculation as to the reason behind Horne's decision, with no explanation from Horne at this point. "Mar Ty" comments on Page One :

I am astounded. Yesterday the campaign was excited and planning ahead…800 volunteers…Andrew was upbeat and confident…what happened????I don’ t understand this at all. We supported Beshear…he was obviously better than Ernie. Is money that important…Andrew was fundraising and if he won the primary, there would have been netroot money coming in…like Obamas. This makes no sense. Wen were devoted slaves to the Horne enterprise.

Second, for all the confusion as to why Horne quit the race, there is initial consensus among the "progressive" bloggers that Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell's prospects for reelection could scarcely be brighter. As "Dude" comments on Bluegrass Roots, "In a related story, Mitch McConnell was re-elected as the Senior Senator from Kentucky."

Third, Gov. Steve Beshear is the target of all the wrath and despair of these Horne activists. Beshear's role, like Horne's motivation, became the subject of intense speculation. Beshear brought much of this upon himself when he urged Bruce Lunsford to run, and Horne has drawn more attention to Beshear by indicating in his withdrawal statement that he spoke with Beshear before quitting the race.

Finally, the comments reiterate that this faction of the Democrat Party despises Lunsford -- both because he has given money to Republicans (including McConnell) and because netroot bloggers perceive Lunsford as scheming with Beshear to shape the primary -- just like Beshear did in the 30th district senate race.

Greg Fischer quickly issued a Come to Daddy statement to the Horne supporters. The initial reaction to Fischer's overture was frigid -- much like that of Mitt Romney's supporters who are debating whether they can back John McCain or should just take a pass on this election.

Andrew Horne's Potty Mouth

Jefferson Poole suffered through Andrew Horne's live bloggging on Firedoglake, and provides us this Horne quote:

Who would Daniel Boone vote for? Daniel Boone would kick Mitch McConnell’s ass. But hell, Colonel Sanders could kick his ass.

Is it really asking too much for a would-be candidate for U.S. Senate to use language that doesn't sound like he copied it down from the stall of a middle school boys' room? Is this how Horne speaks to his Sunday School class?

As to the merits, given a chance, Daniel Boone wouldn't want to fight Mitch McConnell. To the contrary, Daniel Boone likely would thank McConnell for getting federal funds for the park that honors Boone's legacy, the Daniel Boone National Forest.

Horne asks Nutroots for Help

Andrew Horne continues to demonstrate that he is not your average Democrat. Now he's turned for help -- money and bodies -- from the Daily Kos. For those who've never bothered to read it, the Daily Kos is the voice of the far-left fringe of what used to be the party of Harry Truman and John F. Kennedy. These so-called "netroots" are the voice of Democrats unhinged, including Moveon.org, Michael Moore and Howard Dean. Horne hasn't just appealed to the Nutroots for help, he's actually blogging for them.

First, Horne begs for money:

[S]ince there is no more tenacious force in politics today than the Netroots, I need your help to win.

Right now, the biggest problem facing our campaign is money. The DSCC wants to sit this race out, either by supporting a self-funder (because, when you’re running against a guy with as many big-money donors as McConnell, the first thing you want to do is trigger the Millionaire’s Amendment and raise his contribution limits!), or by simply ignoring this race and giving McConnell a pass.

Then Horne pleads for bodies:

Second thing we need is to organize our supporters. We’re facing one hell of a fight, and we need to marshal our strength and focus our energies if we’re going to succeed. To that end, I’ve brought on two Kossacks to help with that effort, Colin Bishopp and JR Lentini. The first thing they wanted me to do is ask those of you who want to help us beat McConnell to join our new Google Group, Netroots for Horne.

Horne acknowledges that he faces a primary, but miscounts the number of opponents: "We do have a challenger in the primary, and we’re going to have a difficult campaign in the general." (emphasis added).

No, Andrew, you have three opponents and counting.

Horne promised to blog on a regular basis. He has plenty of inspiration; he located his headquarters between a comic book store and a liquor store. If Horne starts pretending he has superhero powers, we'll know where he's getting his material.

Anti-War Groups Flounder as Surge Works

I never thought I'd see this in the Washington Post:

Limited and over-promoted as it was, the vote on the Baath Party legislation also provided a contrast to developments in Iraq a year ago, when a full-scale civil war between Sunnis and Shiites appeared to be unstoppable. To a large extent, the sectarian violence has subsided; most of the killings occurring now stem from the attempt of a reeling al-Qaeda to reassert itself. The worst mistake the United States could make would be to allow its frustration with Iraqi political leaders to cause it to abandon the military strategy that has delivered that progress. As long as Baghdad neighborhoods are continuing to recover, refugees are trickling home, and Sunni and Shiite militias are helping to keep the peace rather than hunting each other, the U.S. mission in Iraq will be serving a vital purpose.

When even theWashington Post says that America should not "abandon the military strategy that has delivered that progress" in Iraq, it should be obvious that the Democrats will not be able to run against the war this year.

Indeed, Greg Fischer's position on the war -- he wants to withdraw from Iraq “as safely and as soon as possible” -- parrots Mitch McConnell's views.

As a result of the success of the troop surge, those anti-war groups like Moveon.org are flailing about, looking for new issues and strategy and trying to remain relevant.

Moveon.org and roughly 20 other copy-cat groups met for a summit on K Street -- the same street where Democrats always accuse Republicans of selling out to lobbyists. Two things to note about their big pow wow. First, it shows the amount of coordination between Moveon.org and the other anti-war groups. Second, they are in disarray because the war has turned around.

“There was a consensus that last year was not productive,” John Isaacs, executive director of Council for a Livable World, said of a meeting attended by a coalition of anti-war groups last week. “Our expectations were dashed.”

Guess which group attended the summit?

The meeting, held at an office on K Street, was attended by around 20 representatives of influential anti-war groups, including MoveOn.org and Americans Against Escalation in Iraq, which spent $12 million last year opposing the war.

As set forth below, Americans Against Escalation in Iraq is the group for which Andrew Horne's spokesman, Aniello Alioto, headed Iraq Summer.

Horne Taps Far-Left Fringe for Help

The press coverage of Greg Fischer's entry into the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate revealed more about his rival candidate, Andrew Horne, than Fischer.

It is well known that Horne has strong ties to left-wing groups like VoteVets and Moveon.org. Today's coverage revealed that Horne has cemented those ties by using, as his spokesman Aniello Alioto to comment on Fischer's candidacy.

Alioto served as Kentucky Field Director for Iraq Summer. That's the group that took the two-fold approach last summer: they stalked Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell with war protests and opposed the troop surge in Iraq. Iraq Summer was a project of Americans Against Escalation in Iraq , another group that opposed the troop surge and that is part of a coalition that includes Moveon.org and VoteVets.

The point of Iraq Summer -- which Horne's spokesman led -- was to put pressure on Congress and the president to end the surge before General David Petraeus reported the results of the surge to Congress in September.

That is, Iraq Summer, and the fringe elements with which it coordinated, tried to sabotage America's success in Iraq -- to tilt the results so that General Petraeus could not report good news to Congress and to the American people. Then, having failed to stop the surge, Moveon.org took out an ad in the New York Times to call General Petraeus "General Betray Us."

These groups have jumped from being mere supporters of Horne to seeing one of their activists serve on Horne's staff in a prominent position. That might earn Horne points among Democratic primary voters, but it will boomerang against him if he makes it to the general election.

Even the United Nations has recognized that the surge is working. By hiring Alioto to be his mouthpiece, Andrew Moveon.Horne has demonstrated that his views fall to the left of the United Nations. That places him well beyond the borders of Kentucky.

Horne Puts Cart Before Horse

Andrew Moveon.Horne has announced that the grand opening of his campaign headquarters will be next Tuesday. But he has yet to file his candidacy with Kentucky's Secretary of State.

The official site for the Secretary of State indicates that the only candidates to file for U.S. Senate thus far are Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell, David L. Williams and Michael Cassarao. Williams might be an "embarrassment," and Cassaro might be an "impossibility," as Page One described them, but at least they know how to get on the ballot.

Horne, and any of the rich-guy wannabe senators, have until January 29th to file. Oh, the suspense is just killing me.

LEO Yawns at Horne's Campaign Theme

Even LEO, John Yarmuth's liberal "newspaper," appears bored and underwhelmed by Andrew Horne's plans to run for U.S. Senate:

"Describing his candidacy, Horne said, 'Iraq Iraq Katrina Bush Iraq Bush war war war.'”

Think of all the money he'll save on speech writers.

On the poll question, "How many times will Andrew Horne remind us he's a vet?" it looks like LEO is another vote for "I can't count that high."

Kernels of Wisdom for VoteVets.Org

VoteVets.org stoked their troops in response to my blog about Lt. Col. Andrew Horne entitled "The Paradoxical Colonel." Their comments prompt a few observations:

First, they assume that because Horne is a veteran, he should not be criticized for advocating immediate troop withdrawal from Iraq. However, it has never been the case in American politics that having military service on a resume immunizes a candidate's foreign policy views from scrutiny. Nor is military service a prerequisite for great political leadership.

Indeed, consider what the founder of the Democratic Party (which appears to be the only party to which VoteVets.org's candidates belong) had to say in this regard. In the early years of the Republic, Thomas Jefferson (who never served in the military) and his fellow Democrats sided with France, while the opposing Federalist Party favored England in the ongoing rivalry between those countries. Jefferson called the Continental Army veterans who populated the Federalist party -- including General George Washington, General Alexander Hamilton and Captain (later Chief Justice) John Marshall, who also wrote the poem about Kentucky Colonels -- "apostates who have gone over to . . . heresies" and "men who were Samsons in the field and Solomons in the council, but who have had their heads shorn by the harlot England."

While I do not wish to sink to the level of Jefferson's put-down of military men, it does show that VoteVets.org is in no position to call someone "unpatriotic" for questioning a veteran's foreign policy views in political debate. Such discussion dates from the days of the "dead white men" on our currency, and it has continued in the years since.

For example, as has been noted, we are much better off that American voters in 1864 rejected the military "wisdom" of General George B. McClellan; his Democratic supporters (called "Copperheads") wanted the Union Army to beat an exit from the South just as hasty as VoteVets.org wants the American Army out of Iraq today.

And who can forget the classic Jib-Jab video poking fun on Senator John Kerry for continually touting "I won three purple hearts" as his chief qualification for the presidency. Or his goofy "Reporting for Duty" line at the Democratic convention.

Second, one's status as an ex-military commander does not necessarily make one a good political leader. To be sure, our nation has been blessed by great military men who have served just as ably in the political arena. Presidents George Washington and Dwight D. Eisenhower, and, more recently, Senator John McCain come to mind. But there also have been notorious flops for former military leaders elected to political office, including the presidency of Ulysses S. Grant and the "malaise" years of Lieutenant Jimmy Carter (ret).

So the fact that Horne is a retired Lieutenant Colonel does not, in and of itself, qualify him to be a good United States Senator. If so, then the Democrats presumably would have joined with Republicans to elect that other retired Lieutenant Colonel who ran for a U.S. Senate seat in the 1990s -- Oliver North.

Third, VoteVets.org members insist that they are not "militant" or "verminous," an assertion belied by their own rhetoric. On Capitol Hill, they taunt their political opponents as "cowards" and "draft dodgers" and then throw the verbal grenade that Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell is "aiding the enemy." VoteVets.org may be officers, but they are not gentlemen.

That fact was no more evident than in the ad hominems hurled against me in the comments sent to this post and on the VoteVets.org web site. One VoteVets.org member wrote: "This article is one of the most shameful, disrespectful, and downright cowardly things I [sic] have ever written." The VoteVets.org web site linked my post by calling it "chickenhawkish hilarity." (By the way, thanks for the link!)

Another VoteVets.org member wrote that "if we weren't in a mental health crisis already, I would encourage them [i.e., me] to seek care." A kinder and more erudite VoteVets.org member wrote that I and others who oppose VoteVets.org's partisan agenda "widdle away . . . [our] time with banalities."

Fourth, the comments of VoteVets.org members confirm that this out-of-state organization has no clue about Kentucky or its voters. Consider one post that speculated that my blog intended for "Kentucky Colonel" to imply derogatorily that Horne was KFC's Colonel Sanders -- perhaps a "chickenhawk." But Kentuckians understand that to be called a Kentucky Colonel is not an insult but an honor in the Commonwealth, and it has nothing to do with fried chicken.

Even if I had intended to compare Horne with Colonel Sanders, which I did not, that's hardly an insult. The Colonel, as in Sanders, is widely honored in Kentucky for his business acumen -- and deft touch with a fryer. I've eaten a lot of KFC in my day, enough to know that Andrew Horne is no Colonel Sanders. The fact is, Horne leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Please note: The postings of "G. Morris", written by John K. Bush and which end in 2016, stated his views as of the dates of posting and should not be understood as current assertions of his views. The postings, which have not been altered since they came to an end, remain on this blog to preserve the historical record. In 2017, Mr. Bush took a position that precludes further public political comments or endorsements. He will no longer be contributing to this blog.

Let the Debate Begin!

To go unnoticed is a blogger's nightmare. So ambivalence was my initial reaction to certain angry readers' comments received yesterday concerning my blog on the announcement of Lt. Col. Andrew Horne's Democratic candidacy to challenge Senate Republic Leader Mitch McConnell.

The harshest note, from a reader named GUSTO, concluded (verbatim): "Joining the Boys Scouts to stisfy Mommys ego is not been as patriotic as serving voluntarily the ARMED FORCES AND IN COMBAT. "

Whew!

For the record, we do support mothers and the Boys Scouts, but before getting too far into substance, here are some rules of engagement:

This site welcomes any and all comments, regardless of political persuasion, other than words of profanity or libel. Unlike the Lexington Herald-Leader's chopping-block approach to McConnell's letters to the editor, this site prints the substance of reader's comments in their entirety within reason.

There are several reasons for this policy. For one thing, society generally gets better results if all sides have the opportunity to debate vigorously with each other before any action is taken.

That, for example, is why the filibuster is so important for the U.S. Senate: this legislative tool ensures that everyone's views are taken into account. As a result, when a bill is enacted into law, it has broad bipartisan support and does not reflect simply the narrow agenda of the party then in power. That is particularly relevant in today's Senate, in which Democrats hold only a razor-thin majority.

Another, more fundamental, reason why free and open dialogue is important is that it is consistent with the First Amendment. A canard of some of McConnell's critics has been that he is "unpatriotic" because he opposes legislation banning the burning of the American flag. McConnell was also criticized for challenging the constitutionality of so-called campaign finance "reform" legislation. In fact, McConnell's stands on these issues demonstrate that he is a highly principled defender of the First Amendment.

More than any other person on Capitol Hill, McConnell's record with respect to his left-wing critics comports with the statement attributed to Voltaire that "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." Apropos is McConnell's protection of the rights of free speech for those with whom he strongly disagrees -- whether it be flag burners or, more recently, the left-wing Demo-blogs and the MoveOn.org types who use unregulated, big money to spew forth their froth.

Finally, readers' comments are important because they may, of course, show me or another blogger to be wrong -- or they may prove the points of the blog. The latter outcome happened yesterday. I'll explain in another entry to be posted later.

Please note: The postings of "G. Morris", written by John K. Bush and which end in 2016, stated his views as of the dates of posting and should not be understood as current assertions of his views. The postings, which have not been altered since they came to an end, remain on this blog to preserve the historical record. In 2017, Mr. Bush took a position that precludes further public political comments or endorsements. He will no longer be contributing to this blog.

Horne Bumped by Steroid Story

You have to feel a little sorry for Andrew Horne. He makes his big announcement and the mainstream media yawn.

Horne blundered by making his announcement on Page One, a Demo-blog, rather than paying obeisance to the dinosaur media. Two problems flow from that decision: he has wedded himself to a far-left blog over which he has no control of the content. And he seems to have made some traditional media mad.

Take WHAS 11. On the 11:00 newscast, Horne's announcement did not make the first news block -- the big "11 at 11." Nor did he make the second block. He didn't even get a mention until the anchors were saying good night, and read the headlines for the Courier-Journal.

As for the C-J, it lead with the baseball steroid story and a piece about a rubbertown plant. Horne was neither above nor below the fold: he was the fold, or rather, he was folded.

The Paradoxical Colonel

In the Blue Grass region

A paradox was born

The corn was full of kernels

And the Colonels full of corn.

"Paradox" by Chief Justice John Marshall (19th Century)

The man who is "not afraid to lose" made it official today: Andrew Horne will run for the Democratic nomination to battle against Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell. And Horne's announcement revealed him to be a paradoxical colonel even without literally the type of corn the Chief Justice had in mind.

We would say Horne is a Kentucky Colonel, except that he seems to have spent more time lately with New York-based VoteVets.org than he has with Kentucky voters. So the word paradox did spring to mind when a man who served as a "senior advisor" to this left-wing Park Avenue group asserted that "it is time for Kentuckians to take our government and country back."

This self-contradictory candidate also says he "carried a rifle in Iraq" and that VoteVets.org is "a pro-military group that supports Iraq and Afghanistan veterans running for office." Yet Horne doesn't explain how VoteVets.org's goal of immediate troop withdrawal would achieve the American military's objective of defeating al-Qaeda.
Nor does the veteran who baselessly claims that "McConnell insults fallen troops" ever explain his position that, if adopted, would be the biggest insult of all to those deceased men and women -- namely, his proposal to snatch defeat from the jaws of a victory in Iraq they fought and died so bravely to achieve.
VoteVets.org did not always purport to have such a defeatist attitude. Forward Deployed provides this description of the group's inconsistent history in this regard:
The VoteVets.org site . . . was formed before the 2006 congressional elections. This site was backed by former Democratic Presidential Candidate General Wesley Clark and the group of retired generals that made headlines before the 2006 Congressional elections by running ads funded by the site speaking out against former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld as well as [for] a change in strategy in Iraq by sending in more troops.
Interestingly enough Rumsfeld has since been sacked and a new "surge" strategy that called for an increase in troops has been implemented. Instead of this site recognizing the changes it has . . . become an anti-war site calling for the removal of US troops in Iraq. Since then none of the retired generals has been heard from . . . .
Self-contradiction continues with Horne's claim he decided to run for the Senate because McConnell "practices the worst kind of politics." The tactics of Horne's militant group suggest he is only self projecting with that characterization.
We already have a taste of Horne's kind of politics from VoteVet.org's lobbying activities. According to the Washington Post, when Jon Soltz, the leader of Horne's band of brothers, met with Democratic senators earlier this year, he "accused" McConnell of "aiding the enemy" and called President Bush and Vice President Cheney "draft dodgers," with no objection from Horne. And "cowards" was the moniker these verminous veterans bestowed on those who disagreed with them.
According to Forward Deployed, "Soltz made big headlines on the blogosphere with his meltdown against a US sergeant that dared speak of successes of the surge strategy in Iraq during the Yearly Kos convention."

One would hope Horne's level of discourse in the campaign will not descend to the depths of his friends, but don't count on it. As the Washington Post reports, VetVotes.org is part of a coalition of liberal groups affiliated with MoveOn.org, not known for its gentility.
And initial appearances notwithstanding, Horne no doubt will lack the grace of a Kentucky Colonel once the campaign heats up. Indeed, Horne held the bull horn during at least one minuscule MoveOn protest, and we all know what "statesmen" populate such an event.

So much for the professional comportment we normally expect from an ex-Marine. Maybe Horne will entertain his nutroots blogging fans with a Howard Dean scream during the campaign.

No word yet on whether Horne will disavow the "General Betray Us" ad that MoveOn.org ran in the New York Times against General Petraeus. Though this piece was roundly condemned by the Senate in a 72-25 vote and by the House 341-79, we are not holding our breath for Horne to join the bipartisan consensus. After all, Horne would be crazy to offend the big-money out-of-state MoveOn.org donors, whom Horne undoubtedly will tap for his campaign funding. Nor would Horne want to contradict Congressman John Yarmuth -- who did not vote to condemn the "General Betray Us" ad; Horne lost to Yarmuth in the primary, and then campaigned for him.

Horne also claims that McConnell "bows to big business." Horne should know all about that. New York Magazine reports that VoteVets.org has "scooped up" millions from moneyed interests on the East and Left Coasts, including a fund-raiser headlined by Bill Clinton (who isn't cheap, at least when it comes to his speaking fee). According to the Washington Post, Horne's group received "large doses" of cash from "Wall Street and Hollywood sources" -- so much that it could afford to run television ads during the Super Bowl.

We can be sure that the Park Avenue Colonel means it when he asserts "[w]e should not be told to take a backseat to the wealthy and powerful." Indeed, Horne will no doubt share the front seat with George Soros during this campaign.

Horne is in a distinct minority among veterans and active members of the military in his opposition to finishing the job in Iraq. But those who are of a like mind with Horne hope that having a clean-cut facade will fool people.

As one fellow protesting veteran explained to a San Francisco Chronicle reporter, "[t[hey [i.e., active duty soldiers] don't want to be associated with a movement they see as entirely leftist or irrational or hippies from Berkeley or San Francisco. But once people see us on the news, maybe they'll say, 'Hey that guy has a short haircut, he looks like he could still be in. He wears tucked-in shirts. He doesn't have long hair.'"

He may even try to look like a Kentucky Colonel. Voters in the Bluegrass are too smart to imbibe the corn inside.

Please note: The postings of "G. Morris", written by John K. Bush and which end in 2016, stated his views as of the dates of posting and should not be understood as current assertions of his views. The postings, which have not been altered since they came to an end, remain on this blog to preserve the historical record. In 2017, Mr. Bush took a position that precludes further public political comments or endorsements. He will no longer be contributing to this blog.

Horne Announces -- On a Left-Wing Blog

Andrew Horne announced that he will run against Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell for Kentucky's U.S. Senate race. No doubt setting the tone for his campaign, Horne announced on a left-wing blog.

Horne has not filed officially, just announced his intent to run. His timing may have been moved up in light of a sit-down with potential candidate Greg "rich guy" Fischer scheduled for later in the week.

It will come as no shock that Horne reminds the voters in his press release of his military connections -- no less than eight times.

Make no mistake, Horne is to commended for serving his country in the military. But as Tom Brokaw noted in The Greatest Generation, the vets who talk about their service the most generally are the ones who did the least. It's the vets who are reticent to talk about their time in combat who have the most to say.

Moreover, the left's joy at the prospect of a Horne candidacy -- did you know he's a vet?! -- is a sad reminder that he is an aberration: we don't think of the Democrats as the party of national defense. In a race to surrender, the Democrats might actually beat the French.

The cheap shot of Horne's announcement: "Simply put: Mitch McConnell carries George Bush’s water on Iraq; I carried a rifle in Iraq.”

Horne's accusation that McConnell -- who spent two years bed-ridden with polio as a child -- should be faulted for not carrying "a rifle in Iraq" is beyond bizarre; it sounds like the sort of talk that Democrats are always trying to criminalize as hate speech.

Horne Portrays U.S. Soldiers as Victims

Andrew Horne gave us a taste of the kind of campaign that he would run against Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell, and it is nauseating. In his quest for office, Horne cheapened the sacrifice of three Fort Campbell soldiers who were killed in Iraq. In essence, Horne took their voluntary service and draped it in the language of victimization that characterizes failed liberalism.

We all understand that every American soldier who dies, in Iraq or elsewhere, was a member of someone's family; the enormity of the tragedy cannot be overstated. And the sacrifice is all the greater when, as in Iraq, the soldiers enlisted voluntarily -- without the government coercion of a draft.

McConnell recognized the volitional nature and the selflessness of the Fort Campbell soldiers who gave their lives for their country: "Nobody is happy about losing lives but remember these are not draftees, these are full-time professional soldiers." Or to paraphrase, don't insult their offering by characterizing these men as unwitting victims.

Here's how Horne responded:

I would say that Mitch McConnell owes every member of our service and the families of the fallen an apology, but no apology from him can take back the venom he has spewed at our troops, this time. For anyone to believe that casualties of war are somehow more acceptable because they were not draftees is disgusting. For the Republican leader in the United States Senate to say that is beyond repugnant.

Horne has turned McConnell's statement on its head. The senator's point was not that the deaths were "more acceptable" but rather that these soldiers understood the risks -- including death -- and nonetheless volunteered to serve our country. We therefore celebrate their bravery and selflessness as we mourn them.

Horne's statement also reveals that when he said recently that he "is not afraid of losing," he was not just referring to a campaign against McConnell. Horne is not afraid of losing the war against terrorism as it is being fought today in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. But losing the war would not only make America less safe; it would cheapen the sacrifice of the three Fort Campbell soldiers as well as all who fell before them.

That's why Janay Albarran enlisted in the Army after her husband lost his leg in Iraq. "I made a promise that I would finish what he started," she said. Nor is Albarran an aberration. An Army spokeswoman said that others have joined the Army after the death or injury of a relative.

But the principle that "these dead shall not have died in vain" does not resonate with Horne. He is not the first American military man to run as a Democrat for political office and whose supporters' premise is that we should accept defeat. America was better off for General George B. McClellan losing his bid for office, and we will be better off for Horne losing his.

Horne Concedes Defeat Before Announcing

The Democrats' fifth tier choice to run against Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell announced that he "is not afraid of losing."

Horne, who likes to remind us at every opportunity that he was a Marine, explained: "I am not afraid of losing. If I was worried about risk and danger, I wouldn't have joined the Marine Corps before I graduated high school."

That's an interesting metaphor: Horne compares running against McConnell as equivalent to active combat for a Marine. Plainly, Horne has seen the McConnell saturation of TV ads and -- due to his experience as a Marine -- reacted with "shock and awe."

The really annoying aspect of a Horne run is that it's like combining the worst of John Kerry and John Murtha. Now we begin the wait for Horne to announce that he is "reporting for duty!"