Andrew McCarthy of the National Review Online writes today of the turning point (towards victory last night) in Scott Brown’s campaign for the U.S. Senate:

It was health care that nationalized the special election for what we now know is the people’s Senate seat. But it was national security that put real distance between Scott Brown and Martha Coakley. “People talk about the potency of the health-care issue,” Brown’s top strategist, Eric Fehrnstrom, told National Review’s Robert Costa, “but from our own internal polling, the more potent issue here in Massachusetts was terrorism and the treatment of enemy combatants.” There is a powerful lesson here for Republicans, and here’s hoping they learn it.
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Scott Brown went out and made the case for enhanced interrogation, for denying terrorists the rights of criminal defendants, for detaining them without trial, and for trying them by military commission. It worked. It will work for other candidates willing to get out of their Beltway bubbles.

Yes, the Left will say you are making a mockery of our commitment to “the rule of law.” MSNBC will run segments on your dark conspiracies to “shred the privacy rights of Americans.” The New York Times will wail that you’re heedless of the damage you’ll do to “America’s reputation in the international community.”

The answer is: So what? The people making these claims don’t speak for Americans — they speak at Americans, in ever shrinking amounts. If you’re going to cower from a fight with them, we don’t need you. Get us a Scott Brown who’ll take them on in their own backyard. And he’ll take them on with confidence because he knows their contentions are frivolous — and he knows that Americans know this, too.

I’ll add that the near mass-murder of those aboard Flight 253 and below on Christmas Day reminded America of the President’s most important job, national security.

President Barack Obama must lead the fight against Islamic radicals and radicalism, regardless of what he calls this war. Four recent polls — by CBS, Rasmussen, Quinnipiac, and Gallup — all indicate a huge majority of Americans want Gitmo kept open, military commissions used to prosecute Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and other war criminals, and terrorists interrogated for intelligence without being allowed to remain silent. While wars are not fought or won by committee, Mr. Obama would be wise to consider the will of the people as he proceeds in this most important task.