“Land Swap” Harry Reid has crossed the line. When he was only an arrogant, oily sleezeball from Vegas, his party line pontification was annoying, but not criminal. Now that he has seen fit to endanger American troops serving in Iraq, he has got to go. Reid decided to proclaim, “The war is lost” referring to current military operations in Iraq. The stunning cynicism of that utterance is beyond bearing. The Senate Majority Leader believes that such calumny will help him “pick up seats” in ’08.

Further, like many of his Democrat colleagues, Reid wants to send engraved announcements to Iraqi insurgents and terrorists so they can mark their calendars with a U.S. departure date. How convenient it is to know that one must keep killing GIs just until October in order to insure a humanitarian debacle. Reid’s myopic telegraphing of tactical intent and crass undermining of military morale could never have been accomplished by anyone on the “outside’ like Bin Laden or Zawahiri. It took a special person, someone endowed with the trust and honor of legitimacy, one graced with the authority of leadership, to really cut our people to the bone. It is that betrayal that does the damage and inflicts the pain.

When Benedict Arnold sold out West Point to the British, he was one of Washington’s most trusted and respected commanders. Tokyo Rose spoke perfect English and knew all the sad love songs to play. Alger Hiss sat at FDR’s right hand. Hanoi Jane Fonda perverted ideas of an “American Sweetheart” by posing on an anti-aircraft gun used to shoot down our pilots. Now, after the Senate unanimously confirming General David Petraeus to lead his “surge” plan in Iraq, Majority Leader Reid declares the war “lost” before the general gets his reinforcements. Resign Mr. Reid. You are a traitor and a disgrace.

It’s been a very difficult week in America. The bloody carnage at Virginia Tech was an assault on our comprehension. So many of those bright and energetic young students who were to graduate in a few weeks lay silently crumpled among their classmates or stood weeping in candle lit memorial rites. As if that were not enough, we were further unnerved by the never silent Big Media and their oscillating two note repertoire: tragedy and farce.

Not content with last week’s hypocritical firing of shock jock Don Imus for his idiotic comments, NBC sought a new apex in poor taste by airing the ravings of the psychotic mass murderer Cho in an endless loop of sick exploitation. Always sensitive to the needs of the community, respect for grieving families, and caution about inspiring copy cat slaughter, NBC shamelessly sought a ratings spike. Instead, they achieved eternal disdain and public backlash at their callous choice when the coroner has not as yet released all the victims to their loved ones. What a surprise.

Earlier in the week, the New York Times, not to be left off the exploit-o-meter, ran an editorial that cried for stricter gun control laws before a single fact about either the shooter or the acquisition of his weapons could be ascertained. Why let facts get in the way of some good dogma? Never mind that Cho Seung-Hui is the poster boy for why gun control never works. After all, he defied existing laws prohibiting possession and carrying of firearms on campus and circumvented laws banning the sale of guns to the mentally deranged by lying on the firearms purchase permit about his court-ordered trip to a psychiatric facility. Homicidal criminals have no regard for the regulations the rest of us follow. This was surprise number two.

Miffed by her cohorts overplaying the tragedy angle, Rosie O’Donnell went with her strength: unmitigated farce. In a variation of her previous assertion on “The View” that the Second Amendment is “…not really a right”, the AP reported that O’Donnell reacted to the Virginia Tech shootings by getting discouraged about gun control. “There will never be gun control in America”, she stated, because the “NRA” is “scary” and “organized”. It’s fortunate indeed that Ms. O’Donnell’s bodyguards applied for and received gun carry permits back in 2000. Perhaps her chauffeur should be armed as well. We should be thankful that she was not prompted to reprise her infamous “Ching chong, ching chong, chong chong, Cho Seung-Hui, ching chong ching chong Virginia State Police, ching chong…” slur on Asians. It was surprise number three that her great, gaping maw closed briefly and the cavernous pie-hole lay dormant.

It was no surprise that politicians could not bear to be left out of the show and concentrated mainly on joining the farcical chorus, although Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid managed a brief tragic solo by proclaiming, “The war is lost” while our troops are still fighting Islamo-fascism in Iraq. The Rev. Al Sharpton convened his National Action Network, having been out of the spotlight for at least ten minutes, and shared the stage with John “two-Americas” Edwards. Rev. Al, well known for his slicked-back pompadour, must have prompted envy in Mr. Edwards, whose campaign was compelled to justify multiple $400 expenditures for a “hair cut” in Beverly Hills Torrenueva Hair Designs. Contributors will be relieved to know that Edwards only spends $248 per trim when he’s in Dubuque. In further hairy highlights, Donald Trump also made the scene with Rev. Al and the “Breck Girl”. It kind of makes me wonder how much the Donald shells out for his bouffant. Man those were some really snazzy “Dos”!

Finally, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, fresh from a meeting with the President, ruminated aloud on Iraq, Global Warming, the price of oil, Virginia Tech, and the Justice Department. Her conclusion? Everything is George Bush’s fault. I’ll let the reader decide on her choice of theatrical modality.