There must be a way for Americans to have a discussion about political issues. Right now they don’t speak to each other. Right now there are two camps, light years apart, speaking to their own supporters. Unfortunately, the people who want to know why the US went to war in Iraq are losing the framing battle.

A great example of this is the headline on the top progressive news website in the US, Raw Story. At the time of this writing, the headline on the site reads “War backer: ‘If we pull out, every death would be in vain’.” This is a perfect and really sad instance of letting your opponent frame the debate.

Bush is taking time from his vacation to speak to friendlies and deliver the message that to cut and run would be a big mistake. It would. He’s right. The Iraq occupation is underway and it needs an endgame that doesn’t see the country slide into chaos. The US does not have that endgame in hand, nor is it likely they will achieve it on their own. Nor should this horrid and violent nation-building project ever be considered a moral success, regardless of the long-term outcome.

At the same time Bush is characterising opposition to the Iraq war as a willingness to give in to “terra” and to allow the war to come to American soil. Iraq has nothing to do with that. Never did. And the best the born again Iraq war booster Christopher Hitchens could do last night on The Daily Show in support of that thesis was to point out that al Zarqawi was in Iraq before the war started. So what? al Zarqawi did not threaten to come to America prior to the war, though his name has been linked to practically every major terrorist event in the Middle East of late. Hitchens should know better. Or, maybe not.

The great tragedy in all this is that progressives let Bush and his camp frame the debate by literally publishing their opponents’ talking points in bold headlines. Bush hands them a loaded gun and they point it at their own foot and pull the trigger. Wake up people. At least take control of your own side of the non-debate.