Why I Read Ace of Spades

For weeks now, we've heard Democrat posturing about Bush "lies" and calls to pull out of Iraq. Now, from Democrat "hawk" John Murtha comes this:

Murtha, a 73-year-old Marine veteran decorated for combat service in Vietnam, issued his call for a troop withdrawal at a news conference on Thursday.

So tonight, 24 hours later, the Republicans said, OK, buddy, let's vote on that pullout. Put up or shut up. The result? The House voted 403-3 to reject a nonbinding resolution calling for an immediate troop withdrawal.

403-3. Against. And what do the Dems say in defence of their vote? They don't defend their vote. They condemn that they were asked to cast it at all:

Democrats said it was a political stunt and quickly decided to vote against it in an attempt to drain it of significance.

"A disgrace," declared House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. "The rankest of politics and the absence of any sense of shame," added Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, the No. 2 House Democrat.

This is too much. The Dems line up a littany of criminal accusations, but when asked to back them up on the record, only three will do so. And then they accuse the Republicans of practicing the "rankist politics." Mr. Pot, meet Mr. Kettle.

And the Ace of Spades take? All too sad if it weren't true:

The sad truth is that they've painted themselves into the corner where they cannot allow the United States to win this war. The political damage to them would be too great. It's not so much they actively want the US to be defeated, humiliated, and further threatened; it's just at this point they cannot afford any other outcome.