Well, first of all, if anything our "brand' purely in terms of defense capabilities is stronger than ever. You don't think we opened the Russian's eyes when we took Afghanistan from the Taliban in the blink of an eye? Everyone kept saying, "Oh, those mountains! They're too dug in! Even our new weapons won't help us there!" And then video of our troops calling in pinpoint strikes down manhole-sized openings circulated, along with images of a few daisy cutters exploding and massive chain guns mounted on C4 carge planes tore up entire football field-sized swaths of desert in seconds, and I think perhaps a few people who thought we were a paper tiger might have taken notice.

And boy were those "Republican Guard" troops tough as butter on a hot day!

Don't let the hype fool you. The DNC sounds like Bin Laden-lite, the NYT is mouthpiece and PR central for both, and the moveon.orgs of the world ... shit.

It may be that a whole lot of people persist in telling themselves lies to the point they actually believe them. And, boy, won't they be surprised!