The Party of Treason

The Washington Post has this article in which a top House Democrat admits that things aren't looking good in Iraq--for the Democrats, but they may looking good for America:

House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) said Monday that a strongly positive report on progress on Iraq by Army Gen. David Petraeus likely would split Democrats in the House and impede his party's efforts to press for a timetable to end the war.

Clyburn, in an interview with the washingtonpost.com video program PostTalk, said Democrats might be wise to wait for the Petraeus report, scheduled to be delivered in September, before charting next steps in their year-long struggle with President Bush over the direction of U.S. strategy.

Clyburn noted that Petraeus carries significant weight among the 47 members of the Blue Dog caucus in the House, a group of moderate to conservative Democrats. Without their support, he said, Democratic leaders would find it virtually impossible to pass legislation setting a timetable for withdrawal.

"I think there would be enough support in that group to want to stay the course and if the Republicans were to stay united as they have been, then it would be a problem for us," Clyburn said. "We, by and large, would be wise to wait on the report."

Many Democrats have anticipated that, at best, Petraeus and U.S. ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker would present a mixed analysis of the success of the current troop surge strategy, given continued violence in Baghdad. But of late there have been signs that the commander of U.S. forces might be preparing something more generally positive. Clyburn said that would be "a real big problem for us."

It would be a big problem for them because Democratic strategy for taking the White House next year involves losing Iraq. If the troop surge works--as it increasingly seems to be doing--the Democrats believe that they will lose the White House.

This is such a profoundly self-centered approach--hopping to lose the Iraq War so that they can get control of the White House--and Clyburn is stupid enough to admit it. How any decent person can support people who regard success as "a real big problem for us" just shocks me.

Thanks to Don Surber for the link.