I remember the days when a President gave a speech for twenty minutes and the networks talked for the other ten and we went back to regular programming. There were no cable news shows to slice and dice his speech to death. Today, we have the blogs and websites and they go on and on.

I run this blog, so I am one of the people who get to go on and on and give my humble opinion.

I’m watching MSNBC, Fox and CNN with their pundits giving us their expert views and a few presidential candidates getting interviewed to see what they would do if given the chance to be the Commander in Chief.

But, tonight was a little special. I was joined in watching the President’s speech and Senator Reed’s democratic response by an active duty Marine – fresh out of boot camp – and ready to follow the orders of his superiors. His brother is an active-duty Marine, too.

So, I asked, what do you think? He said, “It looks like things are looking up over there” and that was it – salute and march on. That was about the same way I thought of things when I wore the uniform.

The democrats basically have two choices because the President has the upper hand. The democrats can attempt to shut down the war and they may need to shut down the federal government to do it or they can go along with his plan. The democrats are frustrated and angry. I don’t think they have the courage and conviction to de-fund the war. They don’t want to be seen with blood on their hands by not supporting the troops.

But the President addressed these words to Congress:

Whatever political party you belong to, whatever your position on Iraq, we should be able to agree that America has a vital interest in preventing chaos and providing hope in the Middle East. We should be able to agree that we must defeat al Qaeda, counter Iran, help the Afghan government, work for peace in the Holy Land, and strengthen our military so we can prevail in the struggle against terrorists and extremists.

So tonight I want to speak to members of the United States Congress: Let us come together on a policy of strength in the Middle East. I thank you for providing crucial funds and resources for our military. And I ask you to join me in supporting the recommendations General Petraeus has made and the troop levels he has asked for.

It will get nasty. Both sides were sending e-mails to me with their views. I received e-mails about the Iraq war from Joe Biden, John McCain, Barack Obama, The National Democratic Party, Rudy Giuliani, Bill Richardson.

The Montana delegation will chime in along party lines. Senator Max Baucus and Senator Jon Tester will say we need to bring the troops home, the President has weakened national security, failed to support the troops, his policies have failed, etc. Congressman Rehberg will agree with the President, but have a negative point or two so that he does not seem to be completely on the President’s side.

With autumn in the air and footballs flying, we’ll see our leaders in Washington get down and dirty.

Good night and God Bless America!