February 1, 2006

The spectacle of antiwar activist Cindy Sheehan being forced to leave the House chamber in advance of President Bush’s speech last night is sad. But far sadder is the stubborn unwillingness of the Democrats to confront Bush’s illegal, immoral, and failing war in Iraq.

A one-sentence quote from today’s New York Times says it all. Referring to Senator Harry Reid of Nevada and Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, who spoke in advance of Bush’s speech, the Times noted: "The Congressional leaders steered clear of the Iraq war in their remarks before the speech."

That is, they "steered clear" of the central focus on the Bush administration’s tenure and the heart of Bush’s speech last night.

Meanwhile Tim Kaine, mindlessly repeating the party’s "there is a better way" slogan, managed to avoid Iraq, too, noting only in passing that Bush’s pre-war intelligence was bad and that the Pentagon had failed to provide enough body armor for the troops. So I guess it would be okay to fight an illegal war of aggression against an oil-rich state, as long as we provide the troops with body armor.

None of the Dems bothered to suggest any solution for Iraq. I take that as a sign that the Dems intend to fight the battle of 2006 without taking on Iraq.