Democrats Beaten At Own Game

For several months the Democrats have been beating their anti-war drums and declaring that we should pull out of Iraq. This had roots in John Kerry's Campaign with the "Wrong war, wrong place, wrong time" theme and was carried to excess by Cindy Sheehan.

The Democrats turned up the rhetoric this past week and it appears they hoped to have this issue brewing in the public during their holiday recess. It would appear they wanted the issue to be on everyone's minds through Thanksgiving giving everyone the impression that they, the Democrats, wanted out of Iraq. They were calling for immediate withdrawal.

Be careful what you ask for is a popular cliche. In this case the Democrats got more than they wanted when the Republicans introduced a resolution calling for that very thing. This was a gutsy move because if it backfired the Republicans would have been dealt a serious blow. Instead, it forced the Democrats to put up or shut up. The resolution made them vote, publicly, to show America where they stood. Now they were the ones between the rock and the hard place because if they voted to bring troops home it would show they did not support them and if they voted to leave them it negated their position.

With the exception of 3 representatives, the Democrats voted to keep the troops in Iraq. Their hand was forced and they now have lost a lot of ground on this issue. As is usually the case, they lacked the courage to stand up for what they were saying but that did not stop them from crying dirty politics. It is evident that the Republicans averted dirty politics by taking away the Democrat's ability to milk an issue for political gain.

There is a related story at my blog.