Joe Wilson's Call to arms

This posts was made amid the noise and choas of the Daily Kos meta-Blog, by Former US amabassdor Joe Wilson > if you don;t know who he is, he's the man who had the courage to stand up and Call B.S. on Bush's State of the Union Adress claims that the Iraqi's bought uranium in Africa. He's also the man whose wife was outed as an undercover CIA operative (destroying her career, interrupting a vital covert op, and endangering her life) by the white house in retaliation for telling the truth
Here's his statement and (immodestly I suppose) my response:

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I am tired of the way in which the Republicans have smeared my family and myself for no reason other than to perpetuate their lies to the American people. I did not like fascists when I fought them as a diplomat for 23 years and I don't like them now in my own country.

and later in the commentary section:
We are all in this together. It is the future of our country, indeed thefuture of the dream of democracy that has been nurtured in this country forover 200 years that is at stake. That democracy had served as a beacon ofhope for the rest of the world until this administration decided to sign itsforeign policy over to a few fringe zealots known as the neoconservatives,and to embrace an empty ideological rant called the Project for a NewAmerican Century as its policy blueprint. Now everything we stand for isunder attack and our international image is in tatters. Will we be known tohistory as the leading proponents of rule of law and individual rights, oras the perpetrators of Abu Graib. That is what this fight is about, not JoeWilson or even Valerie Wilson (nee Plame -- Novak couldn't even get her nameright). It is worth fighting.
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Chills yet? no? then consider this: This isn't one more shrill blogger screaming Fascist at the drop of the hat. First he is this is a lifelong republican and a conservative appointed by Ronald Reagan, and a personal Correspondant of Geo. HW Bush, even after this affair. Not only that but he is a 20 year veteran of the US foreign service, where diplomants are trained to choose their words very carefully. When a diplomat speaks he means what he says and nothing more or less

this was my viscreal reaction to the post when I first read it. Its a bit strident but I truly believe this, I've gotten very scred about my country in the last few years:

Well that just stiffend MY spine
Ambassador Wilson just issued a call to arms, and I hope we all hear it and answer it. Until now I've looked upon the current administration with growing dismay, but its been tempered by a comfortable cynicism born of being a native Washingtonian. "This too shall pass", I've thought sooner or later Chimpy and the Boys would be out of power, and we'd simply heal the scars of his lunacy and move on. But lately I've been afflicted with a sense of growing dread, that maybe this time it really IS different and things won't all turn out okay. Ambassador Wilson, is one of the last of the great Brahmins of the earlier age of government, when service to your country meant something, and the best and brightest served for patriotism not personal gain, and partisanship took second place to doing the right thing. When a man of that caliber makes a statement like this one, it can no longer be ignored. I see it very clearly now. This is a real fight between good and evil, not just partisan bickering between honest minded people. I believe the soul of our nation itself hangs in the balance. The rule of law is under attack in courts. American citizens are being incarcerated in direct violation of Constitutional provisions and Courts are being told they have no power to review these actions. Through AG Gonzales the executive is claiming for itself the power to choose which laws to obey and which to break with impunity. Congressional leaders are attempting to destroy the deliberative process by limiting debate, forbidding amendments, and re-writing laws at will in conference committees.
I think I understand now how old Romans like Cicero and Cato felt in the last days of the Republic as they watched in horror as an Imperial Rome replaced their beloved democracy. But I, for one am not content to watch. Win or lose this is a battle that must be fought. We must be willing to devote every ounce of our strength, skill, and attention to the battle or I fear that Edmund Burke's famous analysis will once more be accurate