The double dog dare

When I was a kid, you just about had to take a “double dog dare” to save face.

This was innocent enough - “I double dog dare you to pick up that garter snake” – but a challenge nonetheless, a gauntlet thrown down.

The double dog dare has resurfaced as Republicans and right-wing pundits are out in force:

· daring Hillary Clinton to take back her vote on the Iraq war, so they can then attack her with the same “flip-flopper” label that worked so well against John Kerry.
· daring Democrats to cut off funding for our troops, so they can then castigate them for doing so.

Do these bozos think every cable TV news viewer is inherently stupid?

Could it have been more transparent that they ripped their “talking points memo” from the printer and swarmed the news shows as soon as the U.S. House approved the non-binding resolution condemning escalation of the Iraq war?

They’re like those little talking dolls, pull the string and you hear, “Democrats hate our troops.” Pull again and it’s “Liberals want us to lose in Iraq, because they hate Bush.”

And on and on: “This vote is designed to destroy the morale of our military.” “This is nothing more than a political tactic to undermine our commander-in-chief.” “Poll numbers don’t mean anything.” “This is an effort to micromanage the war.” Ad nauseam.

“Give war a chance,” indeed.

And, my favorite line came during the House resolution debate, most of which I watched on C-SPAN. House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio passionately and tearfully exclaimed, “We didn’t start this war, they did.” They? In context, he clearly meant al Qaeda, once more tying 9/11 to Iraq. .

It’s time for the president and all his devotees in politics and punditry to tell the American people just exactly what is meant by “victory” in Iraq and why the lifeblood of our men and women – 3,133 to date - need be spent in its pursuit.

We double dog dare you.