''A Telltale Sign Your Party Lacks a Backbone''

"Here's a solid telltale sign that the invertebrates who run the D.C. Democratic Establishment are driving the Democratic Party into the ground: Iraq's own President, Jalal Talabani, is now supporting a timetable for reducing American troops in his country, putting him ahead of most top tier Democrats. When your party is being outflanked by the President of the country that we are supposed to be "helping," you should start worrying that there is a serious lack of leadership in your party - a lack of leadership that not only ignores the most pressing national security issue of our time, but has led to electoral disaster in the past, and could lead to electoral disaster in the future. With Talabani's announcement today, the aforementioned polls, and the continuing violence in Iraq, the real question is simple: exactly how politically safe do things have to become for the D.C. Democratic Establishment to actually take a serious stand on Iraq? And, even more interestingly, how is it possible that these insulated dolts do not understand that the longer they wait in their thumb-in-the-wind position of taking no position, the more they reinforce public perceptions that the party stands for nothing?"-David Sirota on AfterDowingingStreet.org.