Stop Me Before I Vote Again

As the congressional session lurches toward a close, Democrats are confronting some demoralizing arithmetic on Iraq.... the only war legislation enacted during this Congress has been to give the president exactly what he wants, and exactly what he has had for the past five years: more money, with no limitations.

...[P]ublic opinion about the war — while still dominated by opposition to a military adventure most people think was a mistake — has risen modestly in recent weeks, according to several nonpartisan polls....

The changing views probably have little to do with Congress, said Stephen Biddle, a senior fellow for defense policy at the Council on Foreign Relations.

“You have also had the near absence of the war coverage in the last months, and since the coverage is generally negative, the less coverage, the less negative communications that reaches people’s living rooms.”

Pew reported Friday that only 16 percent of Americans name the Iraq war as the news story that first comes to mind today — a huge shift.

... Meanwhile, both sides must contemplate the most dispiriting piece of Iraq arithmetic of all.

At the start of the year, there had been 3,003 U.S. military casualties in Iraq.

Now there have been 3,860 — already making this the deadliest year of the five-year military campaign.

I think it was Richard Pryor, back in the days when the poor man was funny, who had a routine about a man and woman in bed. The man, erm, reaches fulfilment quickly and leaves his partner, erm, high and dry. She expresses frustration, and he responds smugly, "I got mine, you get yours."

The Democrats got theirs a year ago by exploiting and, to some extent, encouraging public dissatisfaction with the war. But now it's steady as she goes, don't rock the boat, don't put Hillrack on the spot. The Republicans are so bollixed that victory in '08 for the Dems appears to be merely a question of not fucking up. The last thing they want now is a public het up about a war they intend to continue.

So how do we "get ours"? Start by finding a different bedmate.