Democratic unity?

Now there's a switch!  A member of MSM referring to Democrats as unified?  Wow!

Their aggressiveness and unity on a major foreign-policy challenge to the president is a striking change for a party that has, on many occasions over many years, seemed to be on the defensive on national security issues.

The Party may have finally gotten the message from those of us (often dismissed as the riff-raff on the left) who want Democrats to fight against corporate militarism which so often comes cloaked in "patriotism."  It's corporate militarism, not good political and moral judgment, that put troops in Iraq and wants to keep them there.

Critics on the party’s left complained that Democratic leaders had grown risk-averse, too consumed with defending against old charges from the 60s and 70s, too reluctant to stand up against the president. But the Democratic votes over the past five days, calling for the withdrawal of most American combat troops from Iraq next year despite repeated threats of a presidential veto, show how much that image has shifted.

Ever since "rockets' red glare" was written into our national anthem, we've dealt defense contractors the high cards in the game of foreign policy in Washington.  Bad move.  No, worse.  Ridiculous move.  Lethal move.

Former Senator Gary Hart of Colorado, who played a key role in military policy during his years in Congress, said the intellectual challenge facing the Democrats was immense, but so were the potential payoffs. “What challenges the Democrats now is fashioning — not just muscular, not just more — but a more sophisticated approach to security,” he said, “and that requires you to comprehend the security needs of the 21st century. That’s the prize to be won, because the Republicans are in huge disarray now.”