Democrats need to re-learn how to be the opposition Party...

to the Republicans.

There is little doubt that John McCain, Mitt Romney, Huckabee, or whomever the Republicans might choose to be their nominee, will support making the Bush taxcuts permanent. They will argue that we cannot get out of Iraq. If the Democrats cannot oppose those two issues of the Republicans, what could they oppose? They need to point out the mess we are in can be directly tied to the huge taxcuts for the wealthy. Even moreso than the blunder of a war in Iraq, these taxcuts have helped put us into $9 trillion dollars of debt, much of it to countries like China. We are spending $12 billion per week in Iraq on George W Bush's fiasco in Iraq - not to mention almost 4 thousand dead and tens of thousands tragically wounded for life. We cannot afford it any longer. Is that so hard to say?

The bluster about 'permanent' tax cuts is nonsense, because while it riles the GOP base, a plurality of the REST of the electorate thought the tax cuts were a bad idea from the start, and more so now, given the current state of the governments balance sheet ...

The funny thing about Iraq is this: Warhawks could find a way to leave, or Peace Doves could find a way to stay, if either side found it politically expedient .... Rhetoric needn't track precisely with policy ..... A Machiavellian truth .... Either side could say what they want, do the opposite, and get away with it, at least for a time ..... Unfortunately ....

I don't see why we would assume the stance of the minority party when all signs point to the opposite result ...

Do you think they want to stay in Iraq? Do you think the Democrats will stop them in both cases, and will let the taxcuts expire and will pull the troops out of Iraq? What do you think will happen in both instances?

To achieve power they must forego, or dilute, whatever principles they allegedly stand for. Or, they must embrace the principles of the opposite party to gain the popularity to achieve power.

After achieving power see Lord Acton's axiom for the next, inevitable, step.

Too many people see The Party as the ends, when it is should be seen as one of the means to an end and only valuable as long as it moves toward that end.