In the opening of Patton starring George C Scott, General Patton is addressing the troops. He says this at one point in his speech:
Men, all this stuff you’ve heard about America not wanting to fight, wanting to stay out of the war, is a lot of horse dung. Americans, traditionally, love to fight. All real Americans love the sting of battle.
When you were kids, you all admired the champion marble shooter, the fastest runner, the big league ball players, the toughest boxers. Americans love a winner and will not tolerate a loser. Americans play to win all the time. Now, I wouldn’t give a hoot in hell for a man who lost and laughed. That’s why Americans have never lost and will never lose a war***. Because the very thought of losing is hateful to Americans.
This is absolutely true. Americans can not stand a loser. The Democrats do not seem to understand this. They believe that the election results last November were some sort of mandate for them to stop the war and retreat in defeat. Iraq might have played some small part in the results but Americans did not vote to lose the war. A new poll out illuminates just that and should cause the Democrats to take a step back and think about what they are doing.
♦ By a 53 percent – 46 percent margin, respondents surveyed said that Democrats are going too far, too fast in pressing the President to withdraw troops from Iraq.
♦ By identical 57 percent – 41 percent margins, voters agreed with these statements: I support finishing the job in Iraq, that is, keeping the troops there until the Iraqi government can maintain control and provide security and the Iraqi war is a key part of the global war on terrorism.
♦ Also, by a 56 percent – 43 percent margin, voters agreed that even if they have concerns about his war policies, Americans should stand behind the President in Iraq because we are at war.
♦ While the survey shows voters believe (60 percent- 34 percent) that Iraq will never become a stable democracy, they still disagree that victory in Iraq (creating a young, but stable democracy and reducing the threat of terrorism at home) is no longer possible. Fifty-three percent say it’s still possible, while 43 percent disagree.
♦ By a wide 74 percent – 25 percent margin, voters disagree with the notion that “I don’t really care what happens in Iraq after the U.S. leaves, I just want the troops brought home.”
When asked which statement best describes their position on the Iraq War, voters are evenly divided (50 percent – 49 percent) between positions of “doing whatever it takes to restore order until the Iraqis can govern and provide security to their country,” and positions that call for immediate withdrawal or a strict timetable.
♦ 27 percent said “the Iraq war is the front line in the battle against terrorism and our troops should stay there and do whatever it takes to restore order until the Iraqis can govern and provide security to their country.”
♦ 23 percent said “while I don’t agree that the U.S. should be in the war, our troops should stay there and do whatever it takes to restore order until the Iraqis can govern and provide security to their country.”
♦ 32 percent said “whether Iraq is stable or not, the U.S. should set and hold to a strict timetable for withdrawing troops.”
♦ 17 percent said “the U.S. should immediately withdraw its troops from Iraq.”
The survey also found that voters thought it would hurt American prestige more to pull out of Iraq immediately (59 percent) than it would to stay there for the long term (35 percent). Public Opinion Strategies “scored the best win-loss record among the major polling and media firms in the 2004 election” and was named Pollster of the Year in 2002. Drudge
***When this speech took place it was true. Americans lost Vietnam because we had Democrats who did not care to win. They lost and laughed (or consorted with the enemy in violation of the Constitution)