Ah, your elite pundits at work. Joe Klein believes that Democrats had to give way on the supplemental because the troops need the money and that Senators like Obama and Clinton "understand" that the US must be more careful leaving Iraq than it was getting in. And that bloggers are nasty, bile filled people who are hurting the Democrats by applying pressure on Congressmembers to vote against funding the war or otherwise compromising with Republicans.

Mmmmhmmmm...

Is it necessary to point out that Joe Klein buys into a Republican frame (leaving the troops without money) which is also factually wrong? That the President has the authority to fund the troops whether Congress gives him money for that or not? That Democrats lost a spin war because they don't know how to do PR?

But hey, compromising cost Dems 10% support in the latest polls. I'm sure it was the "smart" thing to do.

What Klein is complaining about is that the days of being able to genteely compromise with Republicans without any consequences are over. Too bad - if Senators had listened to the same people Klein thinks are bilious, as opposed to "polite" people like Joe Klein, back when they voted for the war, over 3,000 American soldiers and uncounted numbers of Iraqis would still be alive and the US would have avoided what was probably the greatest strategic blunder in its history.

People like Joe Klein think "tone" is the problem. The problem isn't tone, the problem is substance. Being "reasonable" and compromising is what got the US and Democrats into this mess. Being reasonable and compromising isn't going to get them out of it, because for Bush compromise means "you get to give me what I want." After 6 years of watching the Bush administration in operation you'd think people like Klein would understand this, but for whatever reason (and I don't claim to understand it), people like Klein can't learn, they can only apply old tropes to new situations, whether they fit or not.

But perhaps I'm wrong, so let's give Klein a few hints:

1) In politics, you don't accept the other side's frame.

2) You most especially don't repeat the other side's lies, like about "not funding the troops".

3) When the majority of the population wants you to end the war, not doing so is going to cost you support (see that 10%).

4) You don't compromise your way to truth. And, Washington mythology aside, you rarely compromise your way to good policy either.

5) The "bilious" people were right about the Iraq war. Most of the "reasonable" people were wrong. You might want to think about that. You might also want to understand that after 4 years of watching the "reasonable" people ignore our advice and completely botch thier splendid little war, we aren't in a real good mood. Yes, we're angry. And if 3,000 + dead American soldiers and uncounted dead Iraqis and a resurgent al-Qaeda doesn't make you angry, then allow me to calmly suggest the problem isn't the people who are angry - the problem is sociopaths who aren't angered by large numbers of needless deaths.

Again Joe, you and your friends think the problem is tone.

But the problem is substance - the substantive policies that Washington has pursued. And while you think that hanging around in Iraq is a good idea, let me suggest that the people who want to do that are generally the same sort of people who were wrong about going in in the first place (yes, there are some exceptions like Obama.) Maybe the "sensible" people aren't who you think they are. Maybe you should think about that a bit too.

And if all this seems a little "bilious", well, what can I say Joe. I'm an angry blogger, because I argued against the war and I was right, and the "reasonable" people were wrong. And I'm just a little angry that 4 years later, when my judgement on the most important issue of the day has been vindicated, that somehow the opinions of those of us who were right are still regarded as unreasonable; that the few pundits who got it right mostly got demoted or lost their jobs, while those who got it wrong were promoted and are still regarded as "reasonable".

Getting it wrong doesn't make you "reasonable", it just makes you wrong. Losing 10% support practically overnight by caving into the President makes you a fool. And what does repeating Republican talking points that are factually wrong make you Joe? Think about it.