" We were absolutely right to remove him from power and we have no excuses to make for it," said Karl Rove yesterday to New Hampshire Republicans. He also suggested that Republicans should quit being punching bags for the Democrats. It's the "cutting and running" crowd, Rove charged, who should explain their "profoundly wrong" policy that "would provide a launching pad for the terrorists to strike the United States and the West" (see here, here and here). Bravo. Sen. John Kerry, who voted for the war then turned against it, will soon be on the Senate floor arguing that his troop withdrawal plan really isn't the equivalent of running up the white flag. But voters will know better. Republicans should follow Rove's advice. They should make Democrats (with a few notable exceptions) squirm for wanting to keep Saddam in power and remind voters of the strategic and moral consequences of adopting the Democrats' "cut and run" plans. Republicans should repeat William Kristol's line: let's not "give Zarqawi a victory in death that he could not achieve in life."