Day 1

Considering the inappropriate behavior from members of Code Pink, MoveOn.org, and other radical anti-war protesters, I thought Petraeus responded remarkably well to several tough and pointed questions from the left side of aisle. Except for the small number of proposed force-level reductions, however, there really wasn’t much new. Petraeus seems to be attempting to slow down the draw down and makes valid points for doing so. As for Congress, same old, same old. We’ve seen this 1,000 times; one side presses for blood with no central theme and come off disjointed, while the other side praises and lobs softballs. This process yields nothing new and enables the administration to control the debate. So the real winner today was probably the White House. We'll see if the Senate does any better; they're more knowledgeable for the most part but half of them are also running for president, so I suspect not.

As for the Code Pink and MoveOn crowd, you people never cease to amaze. The anti-war message can carry a lot of weight but is has to be done RESPECTFULLY!!! Calling one of the most decorated officers in the military a traitor in a New York Times full page add pulls your legitimate criticism of the situation on the ground off point and makes you sound like a bunch of crazies. Respectful dissent wins more converts than denigration.

Hats off though, to Rep. Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) for maintaining control and running a respectful hearing. I've always thought a lot of him and continue to do so. I wish there were more like him.