The 'Retreat and Defeat' Dems

By Stephen Pizzo, News for Real. Posted December 14, 2005.

For once the Republican attack machine has described the Democratic Party perfectly: retreat and defeat. It's what Democrats are all about now. I'm not talking about the Democrats' position (if they had one) on Bush's fool's errand of a war in Iraq. I'm talking about how Democrats have flatly refused to stand and fight the war here at home, the war for America's own democracy.

Democrats remind me of the that group of kids in every grammar school whose members were not smart enough to be dorks nor tough enough to be knuckle-dragging jocks. They are stuck in a social vacuum of sorts. Every now and then one of them gets some backbone and declares he's "gonna show those jocks." To which his frustrated friends eagerly egg him on. So he tosses an insult or rock at the school thugs, who of course immediately counter attack. His friends desert him leaving him screaming, "it was an accident, honest. I didn't mean it." After which the thugs would beat the crap out of him anyway.

Asked about recent comments where Dean trashed Republicans as "evil" and said House Majority Leader Tom DeLay belongs in jail, Biden told ABC's This Week: "He doesn't speak for me with that kind of rhetoric and I don't think he speaks for the majority of Democrats."

And...

Responding to Dean's initial remark, Edwards said Dean "is not the spokesman for the party."Dean is 'a voice. I don't agree with it,"

That's today's Democrats. John Murtha, one of the few truly tough guys in the party, stood up and said right out loud -- "get out of Iraq, now." I'm sure Murtha didn't wake up that morning and decide to hold a news conference. He almost certainly ran his idea by fellow party members. And, from what I hear, they replied, "Sure John, go ahead. We're right behind you."

When Murtha stepped forward, alone, and fired off that rock, Republicans did what Republicans do best, they attacked. Poor John turned to rally his troops, but they were long gone. Many were clustered for cover around CNN microphones, declaring as loudly as they could, "Murtha? He's not with me," and "Hardly know the guy," and "Sure, John's a brave American. No one questions that. But he doesn't speak for me or most other Democrats on this one."

Hillary Clinton said she respects Rep. Jack Murtha, D-Pa., the Vietnam veteran and hawkish ex-Marine who last week called for an immediate troop pullout. But she added: "I think that would cause more problems for us in America."

Oh you pack of quisling cowards. Run away! Run Away! Retreat and defeat.

This is why Dems never win anymore. And why Americans lose and lose and lose again. We lose jobs, we lose medical care, we lose sons and daughters. Because the when the other side starts shooting Democrats hoist the white flag of surrender and political cowardice. Instead of rallying around defensible positions and yelling "Bring em on! Pass the ammunition," they whimper, "Waffles, damn it! We need more waffles up here. They're killing us with our own words. Pass the friggin waffles!"

Their own party chairman, Howard Dean, is the latest Dem to be left bleeding in no-man's land by his own troops. Dean opened fire on the Bush administration last week, pointing out -- correctly -- that even though President Bush keeps using the term "Victory in Iraq," there can be no American victory in Iraq.

Dean's statement is demonstrably true and nothing Dems should run from. Any victory in Iraq will have to be an Iraqi victory. Because if we declare it an American victory that's just an open invitation to young Arabs worldwide to wage neverending Jihad in Iraq to prove us wrong. Just ask the Israelis how "victory" works in that part of the world. An American "victory" means, "Mission Never Accomplished."

Dean's statement was also correct based on the demographic reality Bush so carelessly refers to as "Iraq." When Bush says we are "bringing democracy to Iraq," he's flat wrong. What he is really trying to do is get three tribes, Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds, who hate one another's guts, to live together peacefully under one civil roof. Forget about it. It will never happen. Not in Bush's lifetime, not in his grand kids lifetimes. The best hope for everyone involved is the creation of three autonomous regions whose people agree that killing each other -- as much fun as it may be -- is simply bad for business.

Stephen Pizzo is the author of numerous books, including "Inside Job: The Looting of America's Savings and Loans," which was nominated for a Pulitzer.

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