From Ed over at Captain’s Quarters this story. In his usual clear way, he cuts through the rhetoric and positioning to the only point that matters. The Democratic Party got a message from the voters in November. They claim to have heard it but they clearly don’t believe they have to listen to it. All this talk adds up, as the Captain points out, to a demonstration that they lack, as he puts it, the courage to take the actions to force the end to the war.
You could frame it differently. The leadership of the Democratic Party and their rank and file lack either the courage or the conviction. I disagree with the Captain in this point. I think it is more honest and more fair to say they lack the conviction. The point on which they lack the courage is the fact that they lack the courage to stand up and tell the people of the United States that they are for the war and that they disagree with the opinions expressed at the polls and in the public opinion polls and agree with the President.
In a quibble, the “Cut and Run” meme might be a little tired rhetoric. It might be said that a strategy of withdrawal could be just as well be called “Quit Before You Get Further Behind”. Nobody seems to want to engage in that argument or to press the point. I am more fervently against another increase in the cap on National Debt than ever before, though. That’s an issue for 2007 and it will be a good test of principle for all of these Congressional Candidates for the Presidency as well as the leadership of both parties.