Other Columns by Kay R. Daly
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They said it couldn't be done. Throughout Ronald Reagan's presidency, the punditocracy, the intelligentia, the self-important media, and the anti-capitalism, anti-war, anti-nuke rabble rousers nipped at the president's heels the entire way. All the while, Reagan patiently and methodically focused upon his goal of piercing the Iron Curtain.

When Reagan said that the West would transcend the Soviet Union, he was labeled deranged, out of his mind and sure to blow up the world. Luckily, Reagan ignored the hysterics and the Chicken Littles and confronted the Soviet Union the only way he knew how -- from a position of strength.

And when the Berlin Wall fell, did cheers and accolades come from those corners of derision? Nope. In fact, to look at history books today or hear some liberal documentarian tell it, the Berlin Wall fell primarily due to a masonry problem.

So when George W. Bush faces down a murderous dictator, frees a country from tyranny and within two years, democratic elections are held under the most extraordinary circumstances, is it any surprise that the liberal naysayers are back?

Basically, in the wake of historic elections in Iraq, the only statements President Bush's loyal opposition can muster belittle both the heroism of those who participated in today's Iraqi election and those who died to provide that opportunity. The participation by the electorate was high and the violence was low -- I'd call that a victory. But somehow, a historic moment just will not trump the seething hatred that Senators Kerry and Kennedy (among others) have for President Bush.

It's a shame because in their statements on the elections, they are damning with faint praise, reluctantly saying that while today is a tiny little microscopic success, what really matters is the future. Well of course, Senators. The future does matter in Iraq. It matters that despite your best efforts to denigrate, distract and diminish the president and his administration, the military's extraordinary operations and the American public's support, freedom triumphed in the hearts of many brave Iraqis today.

When Michael Moore shockingly called the beheading insurgents/terrorists in Iraq "Minutemen" or when Ramsey Clark (former AG who now runs the extremist anti-war group A.N.S.W.E.R. and in his spare time is Saddam Hussein's lawyer) said that the greatest threat to the world since World War II is American foreign policy or when John Kerry calls the significance of today's election "Overhyped", just shake your head and laugh.

Got to admire their consistency, though. They are consistently wrong. They have been on the wrong side of history for so long that they apparently cannot bring themselves to admit that they were wrong. Bad for fundraising, I guess.

If they were any kind of statesmen, however, they would not seek to diminish what happened in Iraq today. Men, women and children walked for miles to get to polling places. They would pass graffiti lined walls that would say, "If you vote, you will die." Defiantly, they marched on knowing that what they did would bring a better life for their children and their nation. They were handed flyers that said, "If you vote, you will be added to assassination lists." They marched on. Then they waited. They waited to get through endless security checkpoints. They waited to get through the doors of the polling places. They waited to get ballots. They waited to vote.

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