The Cut and Run party.

The neocon's have made the GOP the "Cut and Run party". They ‘cut’ from reality to ‘run’ their 2006 and 2008 campaign spin machines.

The invasion and occupation of Iraq has only emboldened those willing to mass murder Americans and our pro-war allies. The recent capture of homegrown 'evil doers' in both Canada and Florida prove that fighting them there doesn't prevent us from having to deal with them here. Fighting them here we have to succeed 100% of the time. They only have to succeed 1% of the time.

Fighting them ‘over there’ only provokes others here. Running from this reality might win upcoming elections but in the long run it will get far more Americans killed.

Time is not on our side. Every day a host of powerful dual use technologies become increasingly affordable, ubiquitous and easier to hide. The fragility of life stays the same but our technologically dependent lives grow increasingly vulnerable to disruption and destruction. Biotechnology, cyber technology, robotics and eventually nano technology will increasingly be turned against us.

Our oil supply, food supply, banking system, and water and transportation infrastructures are irreversibly vulnerable because of their global linkages.

The GOP leadership needs to ‘cut’ the crap and start running on reality based ideals. A perpetual war is not one of them. The “rule of law” (democracy, justice and the protection of inalienable human rights) is.

Only by expanding this grand ideal to the global level will we have any chance of ending the un-winnable war on terrorism. Failing this, the GOP will actually help Bin Laden achieve his two primary goals; 1) breaking the US economically (as he did the Soviet Union) and 2) dividing us politically (as Bush was already doing before 9-11).

When Democrats start to stand up for this rational and pragmatic ideal they will see a lot more voters coming to their side. Until they gain that courage they should expect any positive outcome in the 2006 elections.