Hating republicans and Bush is a full time job. Hating his policies, the way he speaks, his immunity to getting 'tacit approval' from the EU before acting, etcetera, etcetera.

And the worst part is that the democratic leadership has no clue as to what their positions are other than to replace republicans and bring US forces home from Iraq.

After years of Vietnam analogies, that would finally be one that actually works. We would have thousands of happy Iraqis now fearful and wanting to flee. Iraqis dangling from US copters, and Iraqi moms screaming "don't leave us!" is not something I particularly want to see, however this is apparently exactly what the left want to see.

Here is the fundamental difference between left and right in these matters.

The left gives mouth service to helping others, brotherhood of man, etcetera but when US forces do exactly that and try to help others establish freedom - they want to cut and run. They count the dead in single digits. They rant and rave hysterically and they show the world that they are just like the Europeans - amazingly SELFISH.

Whenever I travel to Europe its an eye-opener. You have adults who all have expensive hobbies they spend all their time and spare money on. If you travel to friends homes or apartments you will find some sort of collection. It may be anything - toy figurines, medieval wood etchings, 16th century torture instruments, whatever. It WILL be there and thousands upon thousands of Euros will have been spent on it and almost all their spare time will be equally spent. It's like everyone stopped maturing at age 13 and they are selfishly devoted to their hobbies to the exclusion of all else. The outside world exists, but as a backdrop for their collections.

This is part of this selfishnes, I speak of today. The left has no notion of sacrificing to a greater cause. Once the going gets tough - the left cuts and runs and rants about how it is all futile - desperately trying to justify their SELFISHNESS.

Sure, Iraqis aren't 'white', their not as educated, they suffer way too many inbreeding cousin and borther/sister marriages that reduce their capacity for intelligent action - NONE of this however means they do not deserve the FREEDOM to CHOOSE FREEDOM.

Despite all the media reports to the contrary much progress has been made towards individual liberties in Iraq. The lefts desire to cut and run is just SELFISHNESS. What's really confounding though is that this selfishness is so intense it covers sacrifices they have not made.

The left are not patrolling the cities as the new government consolidates power. They are not the ones who risk their lives. They whine about airport waits, searches and inconvenience and they shed selfish tears over their 'suffering' under a republican administration. The left here and elsewhere are political hypochondriacs. They moan and groan about the police state and authoritarian state around them.

WHERE? Where is this police state? The few extra guards and new restrictions at the airport? The computer monitoring of e-mails and telephone calls for terrorist keywords? Only political hypochondriacs see this imaginary police state. Bush has had almost two terms to have the black choppers patrolling the cities at night and to cart people away for being opposed to his administration. It hasn't happened. It's all in the left's head.

But why? Whay are the left political hypochondriacs who see erosion of liberties everywhere and the face of George Bush staring back at them in their toilet paper as they prepare to wipe?

Good question. The answer is they need these things to justify their selfishness. Wanting the US soldiers out of Iraq because they are getting killed is logical to them. They can't fathom sacrificing their selfish little lives for a cause and imagine others think the same. They call folks chickenhawks and neocons as they wrap themselves in a bottle or like the Europeans see life out of their gilded hobby room.

America stands for something. America is not afraid of sacrifice. The republicans seem to understand this better. The left is too self-absorbed and provincial to see the benefits we've achieved for the people of Iraq or to see the good George Bush has done for the world. And it will always be this way until they learn to lose that selfishness that so dominates their lives.