The Bush administration, generally in the person of Karl Rove, has been adept at throwing red meat off the cliff and watching Democrats dive for it. I agree that when Secretary Rumsfeld talks about the morally and intellectually confused and warns about appeasing the enemy Democrats are foolish to say “Stop talking about us that way.” BUT Secretary Rumsfeld also noted that there were 10 times as many stories about misconduct at Abu Ghraib than about the Iraq war’s Medal of Honor winner. Here is an opportunity for the Democrats. The Defense Department does a terrible job when it come to seeing that the heroism of our troops is widely acknowledged and Democrats could make that criticism. Nothing has changed at the Pentagon since two years ago when I found little interest in the public recognition of our bravest soldiers. In the past two years, the Senate has passed resolutions sponsored by Senator Santorum asking that the Department of Defense notify members of Congress when a constituent wins an award for bravery (they are notfied about the death of a military constituent) so that Republicans and Democrats alike can publicly acknowledge their heroism. For over a year, the Pentagon has been making excuses about why they are unable to make these notifications. It is awfully hard to get the public recognition that our heroic troops so richly deserve when the Pentagon won’t cooperate with those who are anxious to tell their stories.