KING: Let me move on to another issue, another big issue on the president's plate, where, in Congress, he's largely getting more Republican support than Democratic support, and that's Afghanistan.
George Will, a very influential conservative columnist wrote this earlier in the week, "Forces should be substantially reduced to serve a comprehensively revised policy. America should do only what can be done from offshore, using intelligence, drones, cruise missiles, air strikes, and small potent special forces units concentrating on the porous 1,500-mile border with Pakistan, a nation that actually matters."
Is it time for the United States to pull almost all of its troops from Afghanistan?
PAWLENTY: No. I recently returned from my fourth trip to Iraq and my second trip to Afghanistan. The administration has defined the mission in Afghanistan as to to disrupt and destroy the Taliban and Al Qaida and other terrorist forces that represent a threat to the national security interests of the United States.
We need to make sure that mission is successful. And the rule needs to be, when the United States goes to war, the United States wins, and so we need to make sure we do those things to complete that mission successfully, and that includes putting more troops into Afghanistan if needed.
.....Otto
: You know your problem? You don't like winners.Archie: Winners?
Otto: Yeah. Winners.
Archie: Winners, like North Vietnam?Otto: Shut up. We didn't lose Vietnam. It was a tie!
Archie: [going into a cowboy-like drawl] I'm tellin' ya baby, they kicked your little ass there. Boy, they whooped yer hide REAL GOOD.
As of late, our record against out of conference, and even un-ranked opponents has been rather pitiful. We thought changing coaches would solve our problems, but we need to re-dedicate ourselves to a culture of winning, a renewed commitment to excellence, because right now we're the Notre Dame of super-powers, coasting on long-past glory and sweet-heart TV deals. Reduced to playing a rigged, cream-puff schedule designed to get us into the big game, and yet still taking embarrassing losses against Navy and Air Force, or rather countries without a Navy or Air Force.
