Democrats Insist on Losing Iraq

What are the Democrats to do given the growing ranks of anti-war proponents admitting that the surge in Iraq has helped?

WASHINGTON -- Congressional Democratic leaders are aggressively strategizing a new offensive against the Bush administration's management of the Iraq war as more and more anti-war lawmakers publicly acknowledge successes ahead of a key White House progress report.

Aware of the trouble Iraqi progress could mean for Democrats at home — House Whip James Clyburn recently said if the surge were successful, it would be "a real problem for us" — a revised set of talking points is being worked up by Democrats that declares the escalation of troops in Iraq has not been successful despite White House claims otherwise.

That point is expected to be sharpened on Thursday after lawmakers receive the latest National Intelligence Estimate ahead of the report due next month. Democrats are likely to emphasize the potential threats listed in the NIE as demonstrative of the Iraqi government's failure to achieve political reconciliation.

One leadership aide previewed the new argument — laid out in an hour-long conference call Tuesday — by saying that limited military success does not mean the surge has fulfilled its goals. The contention is that the surge was implemented to give an opportunity for the political process to get moving and "obviously" that hasn't happened.

I know this is politics, but it's an ugly game.

I have a real problem with a group of people sitting around planning how to take whatever positive news may come out of Iraq and spin it as negative.

Do the Dems really think that our enemies will consider our defeat in Iraq as a loss for the Bush administration?

The Dems need to understand that it will be seen as a failure for America.

Politics in the U.S. no longer stops at the water's edge.

Depressing, and potentially deadly.