Betsy’s Page:

The Washington Post has an illuminating comment from Democratic House Whip, James Clyburn. Clyburn was saying that, if General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker present a positive report in September that it would divide the Democrats and make it harder for the House Democrats to remain united in trying to legislate an end to the war in Iraq.

Many Democrats have anticipated that, at best, Petraeus and U.S. ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker would present a mixed analysis of the success of the current troop surge strategy, given continued violence in Baghdad. But of late there have been signs that the commander of U.S. forces might be preparing something more generally positive. Clyburn said that would be “a real big problem for us.”

Imagine that. A United States congressman is willing to go on the record saying that, if there is positive news from our armed forces in Iraq that it would be “a real big problem” for the Democrats.

I think he just revealed more than he perhaps wanted to. Draw your own conclusions about why good news from Iraq is bad news for the Democrats.