How the Democrats beat the Republicans on security (the simple message): we need all our weapons

It seems the Republicans are

losing their edge with “security moms.”

With threats of endless occupation in Iraq, and new wars in Syria and Iran, it is any wonder? They’re moms. That means they have children who might have to go off to fight in those wars.

Seems to me, reduced to its core, the Democrat’s message is this: The Republicans are weakening us in the war against terror because all they see are military responses. F-16’s and 500-pound bombs don’t work very well in wiping out terrorist cells hidden all over the world. The military is just one weapon, and yes, we need to use it intelligently. But we need all our weapons, including international intelligence working with allies. The Democrats have seen that from the beginning – that the war on terrorism is one that all nations of the world need to engage in with maximum cooperation. Republicans have relied on the belief that rah-rah militarism will keep on fooling you.

The “10-word” message: “F-16s can’t find terrorists. We need all our weapons. That includes good relationships with other countries. Bush followers just don’t get it.” (Actually, it’s 22 words, 14 of them one syllable. Most are Anglo-Saxon in origin. Only “F-16s,” “terrorists,” “relationships” and “followers” are more than two syllables.)

The response will be for Republicans to trot out pictures of Bush with the various leaders. (Like giving unsolicited back-rubs to world leaders?) To that, we say, “Yeah, sure, but there’s only so much their leaders can do if their people hate us. Because of Bush, a lot of people in the world hate us right now.”