Dems get "D" for defeatism

Michael Goodwin:

The Senate votes on pulling out of Iraq revealed a damning fact: Of the many Democrats running for President, there is not yet a commander in chief among them. No one who imagines personally shouldering the terrible burdens of wartime leadership could possibly vote for either of those awful resolutions.

Yet the five Dem Senators aiming for the Oval Office - Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, Joe Biden, Christopher Dodd and Russ Feingold - raised their hands to demand troops begin leaving Iraq this year and that President Bush submit a plan for total withdrawal. Kerry and Feingold went a sorry step further by sponsoring a resolution calling for a complete withdrawal in a year.

The efforts got only a single GOP vote and not even all the Democratic ones, a sign of Dem disarray and GOP decisions not to run from the war. One result is that the momentum is changing. Less than five months before midterm elections, a Democratic sweep looks less likely. Once again, Bush's flaws, which are huge, seem less dangerous than unprincipled ambition and fecklessness.

Dems hate to be accused of "cutting and running," but what else to call those deplorable war votes? Kerry, the instigator, tried a sleight-of-hand, saying his measure envisioned a "redeployment" within a year. C'mon - redeployment is another word for retreat. And surrender. And defeat.

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... On a gut level, our choices remain starkly simple: Either we finish the mission, which is to nurture a stable Iraqi democracy, or we give up and get out. There is no in-between, almost-pregnant choice. Arguing that we have to finish by any date means we're leaving then, regardless of the situation. If we're leaving on a schedule, why not leave now and cut our losses?

We stay or we go. Even most of those voters who hate the war realize as much, which is why I believe Dems hurt themselves with the pullback baloney. No matter how it is sliced and packaged, setting a departure date is planning for defeat.

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If any of those Democrats had been at our nation's helm in history, we would not have gotten to D-Day or to Appomattox. Whether it is difficult is not the test of war. Those who would be President must have a steadier, more long-range view of our national interest.

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Even some New Yorkers can see what the Dems propose as a cover for their retreat. The Dems have already learned to hate Karl roves description of their cut and run strategy, but it has stuck and it is resonating. What is happening is that the Republicans are finally fighting back after absorbing Democrat defeatism for a year and a half. When they actually get out and fight for what they believe in the Democrats are in serious trouble. To some extent it is almost like the President has been doing a rope a dope with them for the past few months and has suckered them into revealing themselves. It is clear to almost everyone now, the Democrats have no clothes and they are for naked regression. They even have their supporters doing naked bike rides. There are much better things to do naked.