In a press conference this morning, John Kerry blasted the President and Republicans for trying to divert attention away from the real issues and mischaracterize his statements:

…I apologize to no-one for my criticism of the President and his broken policy.  If anyone owes our troops in the field an apology, it is the President and his failed teams, and the Republican majority of the congress that has been willing to rubber-stamp policies that have done injuries to our troops and their families.

What our troops deserve is a winning strategy.  What they deserve is leadership that is up to the sacrifice that they are making.

They have a "stand still and lose" policy in Iraq, and a "cut and run" policy in Afghanistan.

I can’t help but think that if George W. Bush and his cronies in Congress like Jon Kyl and J.D. Hayworth put half as much effort into attacking our enemies like Osama bin Laden as they put into attacking our heroes like John Kerry, John Murtha, and Jim Webb; Osama would have been killed or captured by now.  Republicans, having full control of the government, have failed to protect America and now we will see what can be accomplished when both parties share some of the power.

Under normal circumstances, I would say that there is no way to know, with a shift in power, that the incoming power structure will do a better job of protecting America or not, but this situation is an exception.  I can state unequivocally, and with 100% confidence, that the Congress will do a much better job at defending this country than the Republicans have with full control.  My reasoning for such confidence is simple; the job cannot be done worse than it has been over the last 6 years.  We are now far less-safe and less-free than we were when President Bush took-over, and we are less-safe and less-free then we were on 9-11.  The task ahead is difficult, but as long as the Democrats take control of at least one house of Congress, single-party rule will be over and reasonable compromises will have to be reached.  The job of Congress to oversee the President will resume and the country will be both safer and freer for it.