text: In a post-9/11 speech delivered to the Republican National Committee in January 2002, while Democrats in Congress and across the country were giving full support to President Bush's declaration of war against al-Qaida and the Taliban, Rove said: "We can go to the country on this issue, because they trust the Republican Party to do a better job of protecting and strengthening America's military might and thereby protecting America."
  Rove used that theme to win a smashing victory in the midterm elections that year and amplified the accusation to maximum shrillness when he addressed a conservative group in New Jersey following the president's re-election -- a victory achieved at the cost of defaming a Democratic war hero, Sen. John Kerry, during the 2004 campaign.
  "Conservatives saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and prepared for war; liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers," he said. "In the wake of 9/11, conservatives believed it was time to unleash the might and power of the United States military against the Taliban; in the wake of 9/11, liberals believed it was time to ... submit a petition.
  "I don't know about you," he continued, "but moderation and restraint is not what I felt -- and moderation and restraint is not what was called for. It was a moment to summon our national will -- and to brandish steel."
  What we ought to learn from these painful years is that restraint can indeed be consistent with resolve -- and that the loudmouths of the right have no monopoly on toughness.