When Vice President Cheney recently observed that the Democrats were playing into the hands of the terrorists by pushing cut-and-run policies in Iraq, Speaker Nancy Pelosi saw red. How very outrageous, she claimed, that the Veep should describe accurately the Democrats' strategy! Why, she steamed, he has seen our secret plans . . . he questions our patriotism . . .

But, no, no, Nanette, these are merely LSD flashbacks from your misbegotten youth. We don't question your patriotism, dearie, we question your very sanity.

Gary Gross of Let Freedom Ring delves into her paranoia:

There's an old saying that a little paranoia goes a long way. Let's just say that Nancy Pelosi's paranoia is showing and it isn't a flattering picture of her. Here's the AP article that exposes her paranoia. Let's start with what touched off her paranoia:


"I think if we were to do what Speaker Pelosi and Congressman Murtha are suggesting, all we will do is validate the al-Qaida strategy," the vice president told ABC News. "The al-Qaida 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."

This isn't just opinion. Osama bin Laden said that America's leaving Somalia convinced them that American was a paper tiger.

* * * * *

In other words, Vice President Cheney is merely stating that Osama bin Laden said that our pulling out of Somalia was taken as a sign of weakness and that that weakness was the motivation for al Qa'ida to plan more and bigger attacks, with 9/11 being the attack that finally got our attention. In other words, Ms. Pelosi is miffed because Vice President Cheney exposed the Democrats' strategy as defeatist and reckless. Here's how Ms. Pelosi responded:


Pelosi, at a news conference in San Francisco, said Cheney's criticism of Democrats was "beneath the dignity of the debate we're engaged in and a disservice to our men and women in uniform, whom we all support. 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." Bush had previously urged her to call him when a member of his administration stepped over the line by questioning Democrats' patriotism, she said.

Who questioned their patriotism? This is typical Democrat behavior after they've been shown to not be serious about fighting the jihadists. If they don't want to be chastised for advocating a reckless foreign policy, all they need do is advocate a serious, coherent policy.

Read the whole post at the above link. Pelosi, of course, is reacting so violently because Cheney shone a light upon the dark heart of the Democratic Party: their fervent desire for defeat. They don't care about the troops; they don't care about America, they only care about their own electoral prospects. And, if those prospects can be enhanced by giving al Qaida what they want, it doesn't even make them blink an eye.

But - dammit! - Cheney should not have SAID so! Why, he is "questioning their patriotism," the new reflexive defense of the turncoat.

Nancy's getting hotter by the minute. Say, does plastic surgery ever melt?