Rudyard Kipling"
“When you're left wounded on Afganistan's plains and
the women come out to cut up what remains, Just roll to your rifle
and blow out your brains,
And go to your God like a soldier”
General Douglas MacArthur"
“We are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction.”
“It is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.” “Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.
“The soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and be the deepest wounds and scars of war.”
“May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't .” “The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.
“Nobody ever defended, there is only attack and attack and attack some more.
“It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.
The Soldier stood and faced God
Which must always come to pass
He hoped his shoes were shining
Just as bright as his brass
"Step forward you Soldier,
How shall I deal with you?
Have you always turned the other cheek?
To My Church have you been true?"
"No, Lord, I guess I ain't
Because those of us who carry guns
Can't always be a saint."
I've had to work on Sundays
And at times my talk was tough,
And sometimes I've been violent,
Because the world is awfully rough.
But, I never took a penny
That wasn't mine to keep.
Though I worked a lot of overtime
When the bills got just too steep,
The Soldier squared his shoulders and said
And I never passed a cry for help
Though at times I shook with fear,
And sometimes, God forgive me,
I've wept unmanly tears.
I know I don't deserve a place
Among the people here.
They never wanted me around
Except to calm their fears.
If you've a place for me here,
Lord, It needn't be so grand,
I never expected or had too much,
But if you don't, I'll understand."
There was silence all around the throne
Where the saints had often trod
As the Soldier waited quietly,
For the judgment of his God.
"Step forward now, you Soldier,
You've borne your burden well.
Walk peacefully on Heaven's streets,
You've done your time in Hell."
When George Stephanopoulos asked Mitt Romney in a
Sept. 14 "Good Morning America" interview what he's learned about
President Obama as a debater, the former Massachusetts governor replied,
"I think he's going to say a lot of things that aren't accurate." If Mr. Obama's debate performance mirrors his campaign, Mr. Romney's
prediction will be dead on. To get a sense of how comprehensive the
president's assault on the truth has been, consider some of his false
claims in recent speeches and ads.
One Obama spot says, "To pay for huge, new tax breaks for
millionaires like him, Romney would have to raise taxes on the middle
class: $2,000 for a family with children. That claim has been thoroughly discredited, including by PolitiFact
Virginia and editorials in this newspaper. Mr. Romney, unlike the
president, is committed to cutting taxes for everyone, including the
middle class.
Another ad says, "As a corporate raider, [Mr. Romney] shipped jobs to
China and Mexico." In response, the Washington Post editorialized, "On
just about every level, this ad is misleading, unfair and untrue." As
recently as Sept. 17, Mr. Obama claimed in Ohio that Mr. Romney's
"experience has been owning companies that were called 'pioneers' in the
business of outsourcing jobs to countries like China." But that claim,
too, is a fabrication.
There is
more. An Obama ad aimed at northern Virginia women intones, "Mitt Romney
opposes requiring coverage for contraception." In fact, Mr. Romney
opposes the president's unprecedented assault on religious liberties—in
this case, the federal government forcing religious institutions (like
church-sponsored hospitals, schools and charities) to provide insurance
coverage for contraception in violation of their fundamental moral
values and, incidentally, the First Amendment. Candidates always have disagreements, arguing over the meaning of
events or evidence. But Mr. Obama has taken ordinary political
differences beyond anything we've seen. Every day, it seems, he attempts
to disqualify his opponent through deliberate and undeniable
falsehoods.
This is only one side of a two-sided coin. The president can't tell the truth about his own record either. For example, Mr. Obama said at a Univision Town Hall on Sept. 20 that
his biggest failure "is we haven't gotten comprehensive immigration
reform done." The president then did what is second nature to him: He
pinned the blame on Republicans. The problem with this excuse is that
the Democrats controlled Congress by huge margins in the first two years
of his presidency—and Mr. Obama never introduced an immigration bill or
even provided the framework for one.
In the same interview, Mr. Obama claimed that his Justice
Department's botched "Fast and Furious" gunrunning program was "begun
under the previous administration." This time it was ABC's Jake Tapper
correcting the record, pointing out, "it was started in October 2009,
nine months into the Obama presidency." The most troubling recent example of Mr. Obama's serial dishonesty is
his administration's effort to deny that the attack on our consulate in
Benghazi was a premeditated terrorist assault, as if the truth would
somehow tarnish Mr. Obama's foreign-policy credentials.
Voters expect politicians to stretch the truth. But when the offender
is as persistent with mistruths, half-truths and no-truths as Mr. Obama
is, voters expect the other candidate to blow the whistle. They want
their leaders to show toughness and be competitive. Which brings us back
to the coming Oct. 3 debate, to be followed by two others on Oct. 16
and 22. During these widely watched events, Mr. Romney must call out the
president. That is not so easy: Mr. Romney can't call Mr. Obama a liar;
that's too harsh a word that would backfire. Mr. Romney must instead set
the record straight in a presidential tone—firm, respectful, but not
deferential. And a dash of humor is worth its weight in gold.
While Mr. Romney must point out the president's misrepresentations,
he can't take on the role of fact-checker-in-chief. He should deal
comprehensively with several of Mr. Obama's untruths and, having done
so, dismiss the rest as more of the same. By carefully calling into question the president's veracity, Mr.
Romney will have the opportunity to provide context: Mr. Obama doesn't
shoot straight because he can't defend his record and has no agenda for
the future except the status quo, stay the course. What exactly about the past four years do Americans like? And why
would they want four more years like them? Mr. Obama knows how most
Americans would answer these questions, which is why he is being so fast
and loose with the truth. Mr. Romney's job is to shine a light on this
for voters. WSJ.
Mr. Rove, a former deputy chief of staff to
President George W. Bush, is a co-founder of the political action
committee American Crossroads.
