super-heated rhetoric -- feckless activity -- rather a good description of George Bush.
 

Annonymous -

Fair enough. Far too many people across all parts of the political spectrum would agree with you to dismiss your analogy. But if that's the case, the President's current standing with voters should serve as another measure of the risks Ms. Pelosi is assuming! For example, another finding in the same LA Times poll is that only 34% of those polled viewed her favorably - which is just slightly worse than Mr. Bush's 39% approval in the same poll (although more people say they don't know enough about the Speaker to have an opinion). On the other hand, Mr. Bush has no more elections in front of him, a luxury Ms. Pelosi does not enjoy while her clock ticks down. I'm not saying she's doomed - far from it. She's come further than many thought possible. But she's got a very tough job to do.
 

Robert, I take a more cynical view. I doubt that Ms. Pelosi has any alternative in mind other than withdrawal, and the sooner the better. It's all about the marketing and whether or not the Democrats can successfully exempt themselves from blame for achieving what they set out to do. The war in Iraq must fail. It must be all Bush's fault. That's the game.
 

Tom,

I think you are correct as far as Pelosi's personal desires go. She would probably very much like to cut off funding right now - just as the Democratic Congress did in the 1970's to shut down the Vietnam war. Her statement about not defunding while the "troops" are in harms way is almost certainly cynical palaver on her part. But she clearly thinks that defunding now would be far too risky to her political career - and she's right.

Her problem is that she is in office because of exactly one issue: Iraq. She has no mandate for anything else (she and her media trolls try to deny this, but it's obvious) and the clock is ticking on that one issue. She must come up with an Iraq alternative - although I agree that in her mind she wants nothing but withdrawal. She has to find a way to get what she wants while sticking Bush with all of the negative ramifications of her moves. That's not going to be easy. Yes, she has the media on her side in doing this, which is a big help. There are, after all, still people who argue that the Cambodian and associated SE Asian massacres incidental to US withdrawal from Vietnam caused by Nixon - not the the Congress that forced the withdrawal.

But things are not so simple this time. For example, a forced withdrawal could have huge consequences with respect to the security (even the continued existence) of at least Israel and Lebanon, even Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Those countries mean a heck of a lot more to the world and its historical dynamics than the SE Asian countries that the 1970's Dems were willing to chuck into the mouth of genocidal chaos (which is not to denigrate the horrors of the SE Asian massacres).

Pelosi and the Democrats in Congress are playing with fire on a world historical level, although I'm not sure how much they "get" that. She might understand - she seems pretty smart in some ways. Corrupt idiots in her pack such as Murtha almost certainly do not, and could do essentially limitless damage. Where the center of gravity might be is hard to tell.

On the other side, Condi and Bush clearly understand - and so do the smarter Israelis. How this all plays out in the next year is very much up in the air, in my opinion.
 

Maybe I'm being overly pessimistic, Robert. I'm just so impressed with the public relations effort that has given that pack idiots a congressional majority. While I agree that Pelosi is smart enough to understand that immediate withdrawal would be a political mistake, I'm afraid she thinks all she has to do is make patriotic noises and wait for the media machine to convince some more Americans that liberation of Iraq is a Bush/Republican failure that needs to be shut down. Then we'll hunker down at the border and pretend terrorism is a law enforcement problem.

I think our only hope is for a turnaround in Iraq's security situation, and there's no reason to think that with time we'd see it. But time's running out and I'm afraid Pelosi and company will eventually succeed in pulling the plug.
 

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