If Only They Cared This Much About the Country

Democrats are now worried that they'll suffer an electoral backlash in next year's election if they keep preaching surrender. What they should be worried about is the effect their defeatism is having on the morale of our soldiers and their enemies.

Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Rahm Emanuel (Ill.) and Rep. Steny H. Hoyer (Md.), the second-ranking House Democratic leader, have told colleagues that Pelosi's recent endorsement of a speedy withdrawal, combined with her claim that more than half of House Democrats support her position, could backfire on the party, congressional sources said.

These sources said the two leaders have expressed worry that Pelosi is playing into Bush's hands by suggesting Democrats are the party of a quick pullout -- an unpopular position in many of the most competitive House races.


So, what matters is not that our soldiers will be dispirited at the prospect that Democrats discard what they have won with their sacrifice, or that our enemy will be energized at the prospect of having a victory they never could have won by force of arms handed to them on a silver platter. What matters is that a few Democrats might lose reelection.