A Change of Heart On Iraq For Governor Kaine?

Governor Tim Kaine had some very supportive remarks in the Richmond Times Dispatch about the war in Afghanistan and Iraq after his trip overseas last week. It is quite unusual for a high profile Democrat official to say:

"morale was really high. That was really a highlight . . . just to get a chance to say, 'Thank you."

... "I do share the president's view that . . . we're there and it's time to build a democracy. That's pretty noble -- it's difficult, but it's noble." The big question is when American troops should leave Iraq, he said.

"I have not been of a school that we should set a timetable to leave. I think that would be a real disaster. I feel that even stronger having been there," he said.

I felt that the following remarks in his response to the President's State of the Union Address in January 2006 were presumptious and insulting:

Our federal government should serve the American people. But that mission is frustrated by this administration's poor choices and bad management.

Families in the Gulf Coast see that as they wait to rebuild their lives. Americans who lose their jobs see that as they look to rebuild their careers. And our soldiers in Iraq see that as they try to rebuild a nation.

Has Governor Kaine experienced a change of heart or a change of strategy? I sincerely hope it is a change of heart. Our military men and women should never be used as political pawns.