Last week was a turning-point—the week when Republicans take the offensive in the race for the White House and control of Congress. They needed someone to step up, show some guts and close the trap set on the Democrats by the President. They came through. I am not sure whether it was intentional or if the trap just appeared because of circumstances, but it was there. Conventional wisdom still says that this will be a Democrat year, that the American people think the country is on the wrong track and want change. So how with everything going against him, did the President lure the Democrats into the trap?

In the beginning of the summer it looked as though the President would have a mutiny on his hands. Several Republican senators and representatives were quoted in the media as leaning toward a recall of troops from Iraq. Senate Majority leader Harry Reid was telling everyone that the war was lost. The mainstream media were happily reporting President Bush was a lame duck with historically low poll numbers. This forced the President to look for a new strategy in Iraq. Imagining the American people were on their side, the Democrats began to drop all pretense of moderation and run to the left.

Then the president changed leadership in Iraq, his new commander, General Petraeus proposed the “surge..” Screams from the Democratic base were loud; “Doesn’tBush understand the American people voted against this?” The media spent weeks saying the president was out of touch, there was no way the Congress would go along with him. The president was up against a unified Democrat party. He was not going to get his way. As usual the mainstream media and :conventional wisdom were wrong.

The “Move On” ad in the New York Times was the bait in the trap that led to the turning-point—and should still be exploited this week. The GOP should find someone with the same backbone as General Petraeus to spring the trap. How? A huge majority of Republicans in Congress should condemn the “Move On” ad and demand the Democrats do the same.

Next they should press the point that the New York Times gave Move On a one hundred thousand dollar discount to print the ad! This shows there is a concerted effort on the left to secure defeat for America. That this is not the first time since the war started that the Democrats and their allies have sided with our enemies over the military. Remember
Dick Durbin standing up for enemy combatants and comparing our military to the Nazi’s, Stalin or Pol Pot from the floor of the Senate? Remember the New York Times publishing top-secret military intelligence on the front page?

The mainstream media and the Democrats will try to counter by saying the GOP is questioning their patriotism. So what! That’s what they said in the beginning of the war, and I have seen nothing since to prove the GOP was wrong in its questions. If it was the first time this mainstream media and the Democrats sided with our enemies it would be difficult to prove but there are numerous occasions in the recent past that show the Left’s anti-Americanism. The person Republicans use as spokesman must point out that it is the Left that has invested heavily in banking that the United States will lose this war.

After all, it was the Left, the mainstream media and Democratic leaders in cabal who their heads in this trap with an aid that had the nerve to call General Petraeus a liar and hint he was a toady who would “betray us”—tantamount to calling him a traitor publicly. The American people will not stand for the attacks on our military or a political strategy that beckons America to surrender! It is up to the Republicans to focus public attention on this and force the Democrats to answer hard questions.

It should be happening now. There is no way the Democrats can get out of the trap. But we have to have one Republican be the point man. There are nine men running for President, here is a chance for one to be a leader. Will it happen? This nation’s future and the war on terror depend on it.

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Jim Leahy was a decorated Marine and is executive director of the Republican Assembly of Illinois. .