Framing

Thom Hartmann summed up my entire feelings on how Iraq should be discussed by Democrats; in a way that states reality instead of this flag-wrapping, do-nothing Congress debate that only serves Bush and the insurgents.

When Bush stood in front of that "Mission Accomplished" sign, he was right. That was the end of the war. What he failed to mention was the occupation had now begun.

I don't think any liberal blogger ever forgets that point, but Democrats in general, do forget it. If we want honest debate about what to do in Iraq, we should never get sucked in to conversations about the Iraq "war". The only "war" going on there is the Shiite-on-Sunni war.

When blowhard Rape-thuglicans like Hastert say, "supporting the troops isn't enough, we need to support the mission," he's saying, you must support the occupation of Iraq by U.S. forces.

When Democrats say we need to plan for withdrawal, we need to plan for the end of the occupation of Iraq. Not the war. For better or worse, the war ended long ago.