National Security Democrats

Andrew Sullivan’s impression of the first night of the convention is very interesting. And it’s interesting because he seems genuinely surprised that Democrats are talking about national security and behaving as if they sincerely care about it. He is almost shocked to find that Dems simply think they have a better idea about how to ensure our national security rather than that they just aren’t interested.

Do most Republicans actually believe that Democrats don’t care about their own safety? Has the knee jerk belief in Dem weakness and perfidy gone so far as to now think that we don’t even care about our children’s lives? I suppose it has…

If you listen to nothing but right wing talk you are bound to believe that Democrats are one step away from endorsing bin Laden for president. (Nothing the libertine sex fiends of the Democratic party love more than a fundamentalist theocracy… oh, wait.) We are portrayed as actively hating this country to the point where we would actually wish for more terrorist attacks. Why wouldn’t someone be surprised to see that our party is actually quite serious about national security? We are whining cowards who capitulate at the least little bit of a threat from anyone (which is why we want to take away their guns and their Bibles.)

I’m hoping that Sullivan, who for all his faults is not a cynic, represents a small slice of libertarian and moderate Republicans who can see that the Dems may do better on national security and foreign policy than these wild-eyed radicals. Our seriousness on this issue I have long believed was key — not just to winning the election but to actually beginning to bring this threat under control. Perhaps Kerry’s boring, yet serious image will actually contribute to that notion.