In her magnificent piece in the American Spectator, Jennifer Rubin takes the left to task for being too small to admit that-once again- they were wrong.Many observers, left and right, have begun to take note of the gap between the Democrats' defeatist rhetoric on Iraq and the reality on the ground. Karl Rove observed in the Wall Street Journal last week that the Democrats' stubborn insistence that the surge has failed makes them look out of touch and, worse, as if they were rooting for America's defeat.
Rove threw in a canny piece of advice: "They'd be better off arguing success allows America to accelerate the return of our troops rather than appear to deny the progress those troops are making.
"Why haven't the Democrats declared victory in Iraq and suggested now is the time to go home? The answer is that they have become obsessed with fighting the last war -- the last political war against George W. Bush.
The political left in this country can be defined in two words- petty and vindictive. They are forever fighting yesterday's war with yesterday's tactics because to grow up and tackle today's problems is just beyond them.
Rubin continues.....
In fact, they are so obsessed with proving Bush's malfeasance and mendacity that they cannot accept that he was right on the surge or that Iraq in any sense can be determined a success.
The reduction in U.S. causalities has deprived Democrats of the most obvious objection to the war. So they have shifted to complaining about the cost of the war. "For the cost of the war we could..." they begin, and then fill in the blank with the social program on which they would most have liked to have spent the money.
Their political dilemma is further complicated by the fact that Republicans have nominated the man who put all of his political chips on the surge and championed the policy that is now succeeding. Admitting "success" is a recognition of the wisdom and tenacity of not only the current president's policy, but also of their current opponent in the fight for the White House.If they declared "victory" they would be declaring "John McCain's victory," and they certainly will not do that. Ever. The Democrats are left to hope against hope, and their country's interests, that things worsen again in Iraq and the surge proves not so successful after all.
In other words, liberals hate Bush more than they love their own country. In fact, let's just say it. Liberals hate America....always have. Hate is all they have.
~Sonlit |