With the election of a new chairman to the RNC, Republican leadership promised to pay attention and put forth effort into all opportunities to elect Republicans to congress. That means finding viable candidates in all 435 districts.

Job one should have been the Special election taking place this March to replace Rahm Emmanuel in the Illinois 5^th. And yet…nothing.

I’ve looked at the candidates and surveyed the area. The front-runner is Patrick O’Connor, or, as I prefer to call him, Rahm Lite. Just about every lawn and every small business’ window in the district has an “O’Connor for Congress” sign. I’ve also seen a handful of shows of support for Cook County Commissioner Mike Quigley, a man who I actually met once. I had to shower for two hours straight and I still couldn’t get his slime off of me.

So I tried to look at how the supposedly revitalized RNC was responding.

There are three “serious”—and I use the term very loosely—candidates on the Republican side. First is our “front runner,” Tom Hanson. Hanson ran against Emmanuel in 2008, but of course, he lost. Can anybody say “Adlai Stevenson?” Looking at his campaign website, I cringed. It looks like it was designed by a high school sophomore and has just about as many grammatical errors on the front page as would be expected from a website designed by a high school student from the Chicago Public School System. He made me want to throw away the State Constitution and run myself. I’m sure I’d do better.

Our second-best is Rosanna Pulido, the State Director of the Minuteman Project. You’re likely thinking what I am: is the Illinois GOP serious? She’s a one-issue candidate with views on immigration that make Ann Coulter look rational and moderate, running in a district where white people are considered a “healthy minority.” If she gets over 4% of the vote, I think I’ll choke on something. But at least her website looks more professional than Hanson’s, so she gets to lose in style. By the way, on her front page, illegal immigration is mentioned in four out of eight of her “headlines,” including sections on “Defending Our Chicago Police Officers,” “Rosanna For Congress,” and two that are actually called “Illegal Immigration.”

There are other candidates on the ballot, but you get the point. The Illinois 5^th should be our first real fight; a symbol that Republicans are prepared to get back on the horse and that we really are more competent than the shamed Blagojevich Democrats. Instead, we are displaying ourselves as a party in ruin; why would Illinoisans vote for the party that can’t run one viable candidate in one special election? This state will vote for Democrats with the logic, “Well, they’re corrupt, but at least they’re smart enough to occasionally accomplish something. These Republicans are boobs, but, OK, honest boobs.” Wake up, Republicans! If this is a sign of things to come, then our party is, indeed, finished. 

Islamic fascism, a biased media, and a naïve public have all conspired to make a dangerous and downright horrific predicament for both Israel and the United States.

Admittedly, it looked bad when the media reported that Israel had launched missiles, and subsequently launched a ground deployment into Gaza. But we must ask ourselves why it looked so bad. The answer is that the media got lazy.

Most thinking Americans knew, in the back of their minds, that Palestine and other Islamic nations that surround Israel deny the fact that Israel has a right to exist. This, of course, is the most basic premise of any argument or debate. But, because the media failed to actively report on the active recruitment of “soldiers” and suicide bombers for use against Israel by the Palestinian government, Americans virtually forgot about the situation. So, when Israel finally stood up for itself, the media blitz began and suddenly there was a “Crisis in Gaza.” Or so the headlines would have you believe.

The truth that the media is failing to report is that Israel, not Palestine-controlled Gaza, has been under siege for decades. The media has tried to make the Israeli movement into Gaza look like an unprovoked attack. This is absurdity in the worst form. Palestine has constantly besieged Israel and tried to destroy her sovereign government. Israel’s response here was not only warranted, but actually far too restrained, given the history of the hostilities.

Why would the media be this dishonest? It’s simple: if Israel looks bad while the 44^th President takes office later this month, his refusal to come to the aid of our ally no longer reeks of cowardice, but it becomes an act of defiance, an act of stepping away from an ally who went off the deep end. Politically, the media is trying to insulate what they believe will be the President-Elect’s ultimate decision.

But because of the media’s negligence, the American public is becoming divided. People mistakenly believe that Israel is the aggressor, and are actually coming out vocally against one of America’s closest allies. I have seen American citizens calling Israeli troops “murderers.” Thus, the media’s preemptive defense is working, and, should the President-Elect snub Israel, his decision will be cushioned by the media’s slanted story. However, those ill-informed Americans who refuse to stand with Israel comprise but a loud minority of Americans. And their foolish rhetoric will hold no water with the majority of the people.

Today marked the swearing in of the 111^th Congress of the United States. Congratulations to them. But the challenge facing these new leaders is one of foreign policy that will lead us to a new plateau in the War on Terror: the threatened sovereignty of Israel. If the new Congress fails to back America’s friend and ally, perhaps the only sound democracy in the Middle East, then America will have lost its way beyond all hope.

Granted, military and foreign policy issues have tended to fall into the care of the Executive Branch through much of recent history. But our Constitution actually gives these powers to Congress. As such, we must rely on them to act responsibly. And the only responsible action is to back Israel. Congress must unite against the evil of Islamic fascism that currently governs the Middle East. We must stand firm with our staunch, democratic ally. And we must make known that any threat or attack on America’s truest partners will be treated as a threat to America herself.

The Democrats who have hounded me for years over Iraq have finally gotten their wish. I am finally saying that there are now more deserving battles for our American forces overseas than the all-but-completed mission in Iraq. It will not be long before al-Qaeda and their ilk unite and launch a new assault on Israel. We must be there to help defend her. Congratulations, President-Elect Obama, you have your wish: a valid reason to leave Iraq. Now, the only question that remains is will you do the responsible thing and use that manpower to bring peace to the embattled state of Israel, or will you withdraw into the cowardice of isolationism? Welcome into office, Mr. President.