In short, Democrats do not believe in the Global War on Terror. I don’t mean that they don’t support it, though they don’t. ~Dennis Hastert

I have no love for the Democrats, in spite of what my zealous trashing of the GOP might indicate, but this strikes me simply as a fairly scurrilous lie when it comes to a great many Democrats.  Democrats may not even support the war in the way that is most effective or desirable (this is why there are policy debates!), but one is hard-pressed to find Democrats who will actually admit to not supporting the war, who do not think that we are in a very real sense engaged in hostilities with jihadis.  There probably are Democrats who oppose the entire fight against the jihadis, but they are awfully hard to find.  There are a great many people who object to all kinds of things about the way Mr. Bush has conducted foreign policy in the name of this war, and many do oppose the Iraq war, which they will be quick to insist has next to nothing to do with the larger war.  There are a great many people who grow weary of Santorumesque raving about how Iran is bent on world conquest with the help of the mythical Islamic fascists, but they are weary of it because it misunderstands the nature of the threat and needlessly provokes more battles that are not necessary for and not related to the larger war.  But what Hastert presumably means is that these people do not roll over for Mr. Bush’s illegal power-grabs committed in the name of the “war on terror.”  Yet again, I am perplexed: is this supposed to make me want to vote for the Republicans?  Support the GOP, the Party of Illegality, Immigration, Imperialism and Insolvency!  There’s a winning slogan for you.

But Hastert is not done:

What I mean is Democrats don’t believe the war actually exists. While Republicans believe the biggest threat to American freedom and security is the evil ideology that planned and executed the murder of 3,000 of our countrymen five years ago, and continues planning today, Democrats think the biggest threat to America is… Republicans.

Perhaps Mr. Hastert should check with Paul Hackett, Tammy Duckworth, Joe Sestak and any number of other veterans of Iraq and the war against the jihadis who are also Democrats to confirm that.  As GOP-saturated as the officers corps is, it is noticeable how few veterans have returned from Iraq or Afghanistan to take up the Republican cause in this year’s campaign, but do Republican leaders really want to question the support for the “war on terror” of all Democrats when it is manifestly untrue?  Do they really want to run on the lie that all Democrats think Republicans are the greatest threat to this country?  Can they be that stupid?  They are, after all, the Stupid Party, so I suppose it is possible.  

I know this sort of stuff goes over great at RedState, but does anyone else really believe these sad, last-ditch accusations?  In any case, I think Hastert must have confused Moby for the Democratic Party.