Why It's Hard for Me to Be a Democrat....

… and getting harder every day.

Christopher Hitchens puts his finger on it in Flirting With Disaster – The vile spectacle of Democrats rooting for bad news in Iraq and Afghanistan:

The unfortunately necessary corollary of this-that bad news for the American cause in wartime would be good for Kerry-is that good news would be bad for him. Thus, in Mrs. Kerry’s brainless and witless offhand yet pregnant remark [the paranoid nonsense that the Republicans are secretly holding Bin Laden for an October surprise-ed] we hear the sick thud of the other shoe dropping. How can the Democrats possibly have gotten themselves into a position where they even suspect that a victory for the Zarqawi or Bin Laden forces would in some way be welcome to them? Or that the capture or killing of Bin Laden would not be something to celebrate with a whole heart?

I think that this detail is very important because the Kerry camp often strives to give the impression that its difference with the president is one of degree but not of kind. Of course we all welcome the end of Taliban rule and even the departure of Saddam Hussein, but we can’t remain silent about the way policy has been messed up and compromised and even lied about. I know what it’s like to feel that way because it is the way I actually do feel. But I also know the difference when I see it, and I have known some of the liberal world quite well and for a long time, and there are quite obviously people close to the leadership of today’s Democratic Party who do not at all hope that the battle goes well in Afghanistan and Iraq. (emphasis mine)

Well, that’s not just politics as usual – that’s sick. We’ve reached an impasse in our society where political victory is more important to some than civilization victory. How crazy is that? I sure hope those polls showing Bush ahead are right. In fact, I hope he even beats that already generous spread, considering Hitchens’ point, with which I obviously agree. As for my party affiliation, if any, I’ll worry about that later. We have more important things to think about now.

UPDATE: Hitchens and yours truly denounced here.