A Question, Straight Up

OK, I operate more or less on my own, watching the tube, reading the press. Unlike a lot of HuffPosters I am not in regular touch with Washington politicians and journalists. So I'm latching on to this post from Dave Sirota as a platform for asking this question, really hoping for an answer. There are so many posts like this on our site. They attack mainstream democrats for not standing up and demanding an end to the Iraq war, and the tone of so many of them suggests that the posters really think the silent dems "lack backbone," say, or are just dithering. To me it is obvious that these are very smart, very well informed, and very ambitious people who are playing it safe while Bush implodes, making a calculated decision to keep their options open for as long as possible so they can position themselves for electoral success in whatever unpredictable circumstances obtain when the time comes.

Like Bobby Kennedy did when he hung back and let Eugene McCarthy move on LBJ in '68, and then jumped into the race after New Hampshire. We could say a lot of bad things about Bobby Kennedy, but lacking backbone is not one of them.

So what I want to know is if these posters actually understand this and are feigning this attitude of impatient incredulity as a rhetorical tactic? Or am I just missing something?

Re: A Telltale Sign Your Party Lacks a Backbone: When It Gets Outflanked on Iraq By Iraq's President
09.13.2005 David Sirota