26 FEB 07 / "Cheney - Pelosi Dust-Up"

A verbal tussle developed late last week between Vice President Dick Cheney and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi when Pelosi took issue with Cheney's characterization that a congressional move to block the president's planned troop increase would validate al-Qaeda's strategy in Iraq.

Speaking in Tokyo with ABC News, the vice president said "I think if we were to do what Speaker Pelosi and Congressman Murtha are suggesting, all we will do is validate the al-Qaeda strategy. The al-Qaeda strategy is to break the will of the American people ... try to persuade us to throw in the towel and come home, and then they win because we quit."

In response, the speaker said that she called the president because Cheney was accusing her of being unpatriotic -- a false accusation, but a typical tactic used by Democrats to change the subject in the mind of the American voter in order to immunize themselves from legitimate criticism.

"And you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to call the president and tell him I disapprove of what the vice president said," Pelosi said. "It has no place in our debate." Pelosi did not speak with the president, instead reaching Josh Bolton, the chief of staff.

Pelosi said the president had asked her to call if a member of his administration called the Democrats unpatriotic, but Cheney's comments were certainly not unreasonable. Pelosi's overly emotional response to Cheney's remarks is further indication that hypersensitive Democrats can hurl epithets at Republicans - like saying that Bush lied about weapons of mass destruction in order to invade Iraq, but Republicans can't even respond with measured criticism of Democratic policy. And it's probably going to get worse.

If the Democrats in Congress are able to declare defeat in Iraq, they help themselves in the '08 elections by sealing the Republican fate on the issue. General David Petraeus is one of our most capable military leaders and an expert on counter-insurgency. He deserves the support of Republicans in Congress and the American people this year.