What the approval ratings might be if Congressional Democrats actually had the stones to actively oppose this foolish war...

Or to actively oppose the Republicans on pretty much anything else!

This Iraq incursion must be ended.

That bears repeating. And repeating.

And repeating, until everyone finally gets it.

Elected, Hillary will indeed prove to be Bush Lite and this war will go on and on.

This Iraq incursion MUST be ended.

doesn't fall far from the tree, does it?

On the other hand, she's clearly MORE articulate than her father...

This Iraq incursion must be ended.

"It is a God-damned lie to say that these

Saved, or knew, anything worth any man’s pride.

They were professional murderers and they took

Their blood money and impious risks and died.

In spite of all their kind, some elements of worth

With difficulty persist here and there on earth."

Hugh Macdiarmid

This Iraq incursion MUST be ended.

Another story about a Democratic leader who lacks the guts to confront the GOP?

Whooda thunk?

In closing, this Iraq incursion MUST be ended.

Give up the pipe dream already and resign yourself to having to make the Hobson's choice of either Clinton or Giuliani...

If the candidate has a vagina or the biggest swinging dick in the room. If their position on Iraq is wrong, it's just wrong and Hillary's is not just wrong, but flat out wrongheaded.

Kudos to Obama for being right at the time, but my hope for him has faded as his campaign gradually seems to have shifted from first gear into neutral.

Edwards has my corner on all of the major issues, and you've got to admire any politician who can admit they were wrong about anything, but it appears his campaign is running largely on hope and gasoline fumes.

I fear for my country.

This Iraq incursion MUST be ended.

The regularly scheduled annointing of Queen Hillary...

Frankly, in my opinion, the current pool of candidates sucks. Once again, Democratic voters are faced with choosing, not between the best and the brightest, but between a variety of fatal flaws, hoping to pick the least fatal.

Of the current frontrunners:

Hillary's position on Iraq is just poison to me personally and, I suspect, to a number of others as well. Although, apparently depending upon your viewpoint, she's either charismatic or imperious, she retains a significant negative image factor to overcome-- and, frankly, a long way to go to get there. Should conventional wisdom prove correct and she obtain the nomination, I fear she'll prove to be another in a long line of Democratic presidential contenders that I'll just have to hold my nose to vote for. Whether the majority of the population will be willing to do the same remains to be seen.

For all Obama's vaunted charisma, he's run a completely pedestrian and unmemorable campaign thus far. Which perhaps explains his lagging poll numbers. And, lest we forget, the experience issue will not go away and has yet to be adequately addressed. His Democratic opponents have certainly made political hay out of the issue and obviously the GOP can be expected to do the same.

Edwards, while striking the right chord on all of the issues of importance and certainly at least hitting the ball in the charisma department himself, has yet to achieve a modicum of traction with the electorate. In any case, we've already gotten a preview of the swiftboating in store for this wealthy populist with the $400 haircut story and the "he lives in a large house" nonsense. How that will play in Peoria, I don't know, but recall how many Americans bought into the mischaracterization of-- and outright lies about-- John Kerry's military career.

I truly believe that our country cannot survive another reign of Republican presidential malfeasance and incompetence, but I deeply fear that with this crop of Democratic contenders we may be about to find out.

In closing, let me just say this Iraq incursion MUST be ended.

Millions of airline passengers will STILL be forced to remove their shoes, all because one lone nut tried to light his on fire. The reason will by then have been long forgotten (although-- truth to tell-- the reason eludes me as I write this), but we'll still do it because some $7 an hour rent-a-cop equivalent tells us to.

And we probably STILL won't have caught Bin Laden...

A politician castigating another pol for being, well... political, who woulda thought?

There are a plethora of well founded reasons to criticize Her erstwhile Imperial Majesty. Perhaps her shrewd calculating manner is one of them, but I suspect most folks would admire that in a candidate rather than be repulsed by it.

Hell, if Gore or Kerry had been half so calculating, we might not be in the boat we're in right now...

In closing, let me just say that this Iraq incursion MUST be ended.

"What in a man would be smart, tough politicking is, when it's a woman, something ugly."

Triangulation, calculation, shrewdness, political savvy, call it what you will. Overweening ambition is ugly in a man, too.

And yes, I know what she stands for, as well. I just suspect that your version of what that is and mine are different animals...

I am experiencing the chills of deja vu from the recent calls for declaring victory in Iraq-- anyone remember the atmosphere just before the Tet Offensive? We were winning then too. Until suddenly we weren't. And the war went on and on, the death toll got higher and higher, the lies continued and American blood and treasure just kept spilling endlessly into that green hell.

The terrain may have changed, but the history just keeps on repeating itself. How long before one of these brave men is testifying before Congress and asking who will be the last to die for a mistake?

For the love of God, this Iraq incursion MUST be ended!