In the cesspool that Washington has become, truth and clarity still manage to bubble to the surface on occasion.

As Senator Hillary Clinton intensifies and refines her spin, deception, and self-aggrandizement, she inadvertently slipped up in a big way and revealed a truth that will doom her campaign and her party’s chances to reclaim the White House in 2008.

Last week, while campaigning in New Hampshire, Senator Clinton said, “It’s a horrible prospect to ask yourself, ‘What if? What if?’ But if certain things happen between now and the election, particularly with respect to terrorism, that will automatically give the Republicans an advantage again…”

Said comment was immediately attacked by some of her Democratic rivals for the White House. Why? Because they don’t want the voters of America to be reminded that when it comes to terrorism, the Republican candidates are much more willing to do whatever it takes to protect the homeland.

About the same time that Senator Clinton was offering a truth she is now desperate to take back, Vice Admiral (Ret) John Scott Redd, the Head of the National Counterterrorism Center, was granting an interview to Newsweek magazine in which he categorically stated that “We have very strong indicators that Al Qaeda is planning to attack the West.” When pressed on where, he continued, “Well, they would like to come West, and they would like to come as far West as they can.” Obviously, “as far West as they can,” would be the United States.

The citizens of our nation are very intelligent. More intelligent than most of those now running for president. They fully understand, that if we can’t stop these terrorists, then nothing else really matters. Not health care, not education, not energy consumption, and not the condition of our infrastructures. The American people know that job one of any president is the national security of our nation. Get that wrong and say goodbye to all the other issues. Period.

When it comes to fighting terrorists, our fellow citizens continually wonder what part of “We plan to exterminate America” our politicians don’t understand? They know that unless destroyed, these Islamists will never stop until their stated goal is achieved.

Sadly, these very same Americans cast their eyes toward Washington and see ethically and morally challenged politicians from both sides of the aisle who put their needs or the needs of their party, before the national security interests of the United States. In the guise of our nation’s capital, they see a opaque cesspool of hedonism that has managed to attract the weak of character into its epicenter.

But, through all of that, the intuition of most Americans still allows them to acknowledge several truths fighting to escape the cesspool. The first being that in spite their many flaws, (a number of which that have recently filled the front pages of our newspapers) the Republicans will take the fight to the terrorists where they sleep and hide. The second being that logic dictates that Vice Admiral John Scott Redd, and others who warn of an impending terrorist attack, are sadly, most likely correct. The last truth they see -- exactly because of the cesspool that Washington has become -- is that the only hope for this country will be to elect a Republican from outside of its corrupting sphere of influence.

Clearly, Hillary Clinton has come to this same conclusion. That said, the next President of the United States will either be Republican outsider Mitt Romney or Republican outsider Rudy Giuliani.