Iraq: are most elected Dems badly out-of-touch with their constituents?

perhaps, as some allege, DU represents the wacky 1% of left-wing extremists in the Democratic Party ... or perhaps, DU is a mirror of what most "ordinary" Democrats really believe ...

One thing's for sure, Iraq has taken over the American political landscape ... it's not Social Security or education or crime or abortion or gay marriage or "intelligent design" or term limits or global warming or balanced budgets or jobs or even terrorism ...

Everyone is talking about Iraq ...

I believe there is no question that Americans have had enough and that's especially true for most "ordinary" Democrats ...

But the Democratic Party's elite, the Clintons, Biden, Kerry, Bayh and yes, even Howard Dean, believe we cannot leave Iraq until certain objectives are achieved ... I'm confident all of these party "leaders" see the tidal wave building against the war ... they're not blind, you know ...

Many on DU have written over and over and over pleading with them to chart a new course ... there is always hope that they will ...

The poll question is, based on their current position and the position held by most "ordinary" Democrats, do you think most elected Democrats are badly out-of-touch with their constituents on this issue?

California. I tend to believe that the Democrats here R more conservative than liberal given the political landscape. Monday evening @ the Central Committee meeting, I presented a brief over view of my stay @ Camp Casey. Not one democratic @ that meeting supported the Iraqi occupation. These R 'normal' democrats. One candidate for the Cox congressional seat spoke about doing the 'right' thing then leaving Iraq. There was a loud silence that greeted that viewpoint.

do our "leaders" feel stuck? do they fear they will be seen as flip-floppers if they change course? do they really believe they are doing the right thing for the country? for the Party?

maybe they're hoping the whole thing will just go away before the next election ...

to me, it seems like they would reap huge political benefits if they acknowledged that they can no longer "walk down this road and pretend that they just don't see" ... if we've arrived at a point where our "leaders" are so worried about the politics that they can't do the right thing, how can we expect our Party or our country to survive?

I used to do some voter registration below the Orange Curtain. I am interested to hear that even Dems there are dubious about this war.

rally to send more troops, rather they, like us, are on this side of the great divide between those who have their grip on the party leadership and us....and they won't let go--even if it costs the party's ability to...be a party.

Some have made it their vehicle for their own personal party.

except for a very few. Anyone who thinks we shouldn't get out of Iraq now, is playing a political game. I used to admire Joe Biden. Now I think of him as just a slick politician and a sell-out like so many others. "Out of touch" is putting it mildly!

welcome to DU, Greenpeach !!!!

it's really too bad about Biden ... i read a speech he made after he returned from Iraq ... he was very articulate talking about what a mess everything is over there ...

but then, he just kept "staying the course" ... Biden is a hideous opportunist ... he could have been much more ...

About 15? years ago I heard him speak and was so moved I wrote to ask if I could work for him. What a let down to see what he's become.
Thanks for the welcome!

On the other hand, Senator Bayh is parroting Bush's old slogan of "stay the course."

It depends on who the elected Dem happens to be.

Their handlers will come up with something whiz-bang wonderful to say. And everyone will say "ooooow and aaahhhhh!"

95% of the delegates to the Dem. convention were/are against this war, and they--the elected Democrats--put a gag rule in place.

Solution:

Diplomacy...diplomacy...diplomacy! Get Iraq's neighborhood on-board. Get some moderate Arabs involved. That's how we get out of Iraq without the predicted fiasco. One problem, the junta is incapable of doing it, because you actually have to want to leave.

You could also look at it as the top of the Democratic Party cleverly and deliberately running off to the right to pin Bush into his far Right political position of Infallibility and Ultimate Victory.

It prevents Bush from the usual trick of lowering the bar to zero and slipping to their left- or rather, if/when he does, it'll cost him a lot more political points with his own crowd than the "embarrassment" will they'll have to show when he does. Yes, it's a strangely moronic thing, overall, but remember: the people this is about, hardline Bush supporters, are...uh, not the brightest bulbs in the bunch.