A "Blunt-Speaking, Gun-Toting" Democrat With the Guts to Ask the Tough Questions

Yesterday, I wrote about how important it is for Democrats to get the guts to start asking the tough national security questions that our country needs to make sure we are making the best policy choices to defend this country. And in a new Roll Call piece (written before my post yesterday), we see that Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D) is one Democrat who is willing to demand some answers.

Here are some key excerpts from the Roll Call story:

"Schweitzer said, 'When any political leader in America uses the term crusade, you can hardly imagine the kind of angst that you get in the Islamic world. That would be like waving a Confederate flag at an NAACP meeting in Alabama.'...Schweitzer said he doesn’t know what the president’s 'end game' in Iraq is. 'We now have the greatest part of our military force sitting smack-dab in the Middle East,' he said. 'It is true that Iraq is full of al Qaeda and lots of bad guys — we’ve attracted them like honey to come and fight us.'"

You may recall that Schweitzer has backed up this rhetoric with a gutsy letter to President Bush asking the White House to return Montana's National Guardsmen from Iraq so that they can help the state fight any potential forest fires.

Roll Call describes Schweitzer as a "blunt-speaking, gun-toting, scotch-swilling governor" who has attracted a lot of support for his willingness to ask the tough questions. And in this article, we see that Schweitzer's plain-spokenness extends to national security. He understands that, especially when we are bogged down in a seemingly endless war, Americans want their political leaders to demand honest answers from the powers-that-be.

For the sake of this country's national security, let's hope more politicians of both parties follow suit.