Actually, THE DEMOCRATS stood up today

I'm a little tired of hearing about heroes like John McCain, Lindsay Graham, and Mark Warner in a vaccuum. McCain, Warner and Graham, along with Susan Collins, did stand up against what I'm sure was plenty of intimidation from the White House, supporting military tribunal legislation that would put it in line with Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions. For that they deserve commendation.

But would it kill these media types to just mention that EVERY DEMOCRAT stood with those four Republicans as well? That EVERY DEMOCRAT saw the danger in concealing evidence and allowing other evidence obtained through coercion in military trials. Colin Powell sees it too, and that's great. But how about the fact that the Democrats are completely united on following the blueprint of the Supreme Court in Hamdan and restoring Geneva Convention protections for military tribunals?

It's fairly obvious that there's a connection between Republicans with war experience and those supporting this measure. Those who have actually been on the front lines understand that they don't want soldiers to be put at the same risk of kangaroo courts and detainment without charges. And this quote by Lindsay Graham is dead on target.

"We are not going to win the war by killing every terrorist with a bomb or a bullet,'' South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham told reporters before the committee met. "You win the war by persuading those people in the Mideast to reject terrorism.''

But the media has turned this into an internecine war between Republicans, rather than some key Republicans jumping on a policy Democrats have argued the entire time. I can't say I blame the Democrats for this one. For the media, the story of a party eating their own is always bigger. And the Dems can say whatever they want without getting a whole lot of attention. This could easily be a top story, when a United States Senator says this:

"In light of the rantings that went on for 30 minutes by two colleagues from the other side, I'd like to state for the record that America is not tired of fighting terrorism; America is tired of the wrongheaded and boneheaded leadership of the Republican party that has sent six and a half billion a month to Iraq while the front line was Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia. That led this country to attack Saddam Hussein, when we were attacked by Osama bin Laden. Who captured a man who did not attack the country and let loose a man that did. Americans are tired of boneheaded Republican leadership that alienates our allies when we need them the most. Americans are most certainly tired of leadership that despite documenting mistake after mistake after mistake, even of their own party admitting mistakes, never admit they do anything wrong. That's the kind of leadership Americans are tired of."

She concluded,

"I'm not going to sit here as a Democrat and let the Republican leadership come to the floor and talk about Democrats not making us safe. They're the ones in charge and Osama bin Laden is still at loose."

It's damn near time to bring back the Fairness Doctrine, but since that won't happen, its time to acknowledge that during this campaign season, when Republicans are fighting within their own party, that's because SOME OF THEM AGREE WITH DEMOCRATS who are, for the most part, united this year.