Let's at long last lay our cards on the table and call the empty Democratic posturing what it is-- a betrayal of their base and the electorate. They were put into office this last time around with a crystal clear mandate to DO SOMETHING about this Iraqi nightmare. Paralyzed by the fear of doing anything lest they do the wrong thing, we-- their base and electorate-- get in place of any shred of reality based action another set of windy threats and vapid promises. Yet more sound and fury, signifying nothing.

And with each blustering sound byte, juxtaposed beside daily casualty reports and the GOP's unalloyed and continuing opposition to any solution save "stay the course," Democrats appear increasingly ineffectual and impotent.

Unless this party can find the intestinal fortitude to make a stand and hold the line against further involvement in this ever deepening, neverending quagmire, I believe that the Democratic Party as we knew it is doomed to whither and die. After all, why vote for a party who can't seem to find the courage of their own convictions? Or, worse, who can't seem to define with any consistency what their convictions even are.

If we Democrats can't muster up that courage, then maybe that's not such a bad thing. Better to be unrepresented than to be led by these toothless, faithless lapdogs.

what're we going to do about it? With the current crop of spineless nincompoops I like to laughingly refer to as Democratic leaders, I'd say same-old same-old. Bluster a bit and then cave.

In the meantime, American kids die. In the meantime, Iraqi civilians, young, old and in-between, die. In the meantime, the wealth of our nation continues to be poured out uselessly like water onto the burning desert sands. In the meantime, I begin to wonder-- and I have to believe I'm not alone in this-- exactly why have I bothered to vote these boobs into office in the first place.

After all, if I wanted to support this ongoing madness, Republicans certainly do it with much more fervor and elan...

I'm sitting here trying to parse out exactly when MY Democratic Party-- you know, the one that gave us FDR and Truman and John F. Kennedy (and hell, RFK, Eugene McCarthy and George McGovern, guys who actually stood for something regardless of the odds)-- metamorphosed into this current mess of spineless blow-hard weather vanes.

I am frustrated beyond words that, even with a majority in both Houses, my party cannot seem to muster a united, determined, visceral, righteous and ultimately defensible position on the burning issue of our time-- OR ANY ISSUE OF NOTE-- against arguably the worst administration in the entire history of this country.

I want my vote to stand for something again. I want my leaders to for once and all put country above politics, even if that means we go down swinging. I want my Democrats to say "Enough!" and mean it. I want my party back.

Hey, if you're screwy enough to wait in line in front of the store, slavering to be one of the first possessors of any new tech, you get what you deserve, IMO. And that usually means high prices and less performance... But hey, you were among the FIRST.

It really isn't a stunner that over time the price of the new stuff declines while the quality generally improves. What never ceases to amaze is how few seem able to remember this simple notion.

Here's hoping he follows through with his recission of his resignation. What a great opportunity for the Dems to hammer again and again on the GOP as the party of hypocrisy and sleaze for as long as he continues to occupy the public stage!

Can you just imagine? From the party that gave you Mark Foley--Larry Craig redux!

our troops are being made to suffer through and re-learn the rough and bloody lessons of fighting a guerrilla conflict. Judging from his bizarre, flawed analogy, the A-hole In Chief clearly never learned a damned thing, either from fighting in one-- since he so neatly avoided serving in just such a conflict himself-- or from his erstwhile, vacuous "analysis" after the fact.

And noted that they quote a CNN/Gallup poll showing 72% of Americans oppose the war. Yet the Democrats can't seem to find the intestinal fortitude, despite a majority in Congress, to do ANYTHING to force a conclusion?

With this kind of namby-pamby gutless "leadership" (and I use the term loosely) in opposition, I fear that we will have another 4 years of Republican presidency to look forward to in 2008, as the public reacts in disgust to a weak and rudderless Democratic Party.

Will these "rally squads" be issued brown shirts? Or lovely red armbands, perhaps embossed with a nifty black "R" for Republican?

And if shouting "USA" gets old, why not just chant the Horst Wessel song instead?

so little substance.

No wonder our Republic is going down the toilet. What's next? A Hottest Self-Congratulatory A-Holes Contest?

Ooops. Looks like that's already been covered.