I'm Starting To Wonder If Grassroots Citizens Secretly Support The Left's "War Is Lost" Consensus...

From my post at Grassfire.org, I've been watching what has transpired in the past several months with some puzzlement over the Iraq war debate.

My confusion is not about the Left's strategy, which is clear. They believe they won the 2006 elections primarily by pinning the failures in Iraq on the President, and they are determined to play the same hand in 2008. So far, it's working. They debate resolutions and funding bills they know the President will veto, which means Republicans will be responsibile for any bad that comes out of Iraq between now and November 2008.

What Does Our Silence Say?
My puzzlement comes instead from grassroots citizens' lack of a visceral response to the "War Is Lost" rhetoric. I'm wondering if grassroots Americans secretly agree with Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid's assertion. Here is what Reid said on 4/19: "I believe ... that this war is lost, and this surge is not accomplishing anything, as is shown by the extreme violence in Iraq this week."

So, grassroots America, do you agree with Reid? I'd like your comments here.

The reason I'm asking is that, since the November 2006 elections, here at Grassfire.org we have seen little grassroots support for the mission of the Iraq war. Even more telling -- grassroots conservatives don't seem to even have the stomach for opposing the Reid-Pelosi "War Is Lost" fast-track agenda. One would think that shouting the "war is lost" when there are some 200,000 of our sons and daughters over there fighting and when Ground Zero is yet to be rebuilt would be fighting words for patriotic citizens at the grassroots. But that has not proven to be the case. Here at Grassfire we have tried to rally support (or, at least opposition to the "War Is Lost" crusade), but our team is telling us they are not interested.

Do We Agree, Or Are We Weary?
Do grassroots conservatives now agree with the Left that the war was a mistake? Do we accept the assessment that Iraq has nothing to do with the war on terror?

Or have we just grown weary with a war that seems to have no clear victory plan and with a President at the helm who has lost our confidence through his open borders/amnesty agenda?

Below, I've listed some quotes from the recent Democratic debate outlining the Left's "war is lost" consensus. I'd like some feedback from grassroots conservatives on these three questions:

1. Do you agree with the Left's "war is lost" consensus?
2. Do you think most grassroots conservatives agree that the "war is lost"?
3. If not, why is there no grassroots counter revolt to the "war is lost" campaign?

Excerpts from the recent Democratic Debate
(full text here):

Hillary Clinton: At the outset let me say that the American people have spoken, the Congress has voted, as of today, to end this war. And now we can only hope that the president will listen. I'm very proud of the Congress, under the leadership of Speaker Pelosi and Leader Reid, for putting together a piece of legislation which says we will fund our troops and protect them, we will limit the number of days that they can be deployed, and we will start to bring them home. And I think that is exactly what the American people want.

Joe Biden: The real question is, are we going to be able to leave Iraq, get our troops out and leave behind something other than chaos?

Barak Obama: I am proud that I opposed this war from the start, because I thought that it would lead to the some -- the disastrous conditions that we've seen on the ground in Iraq.

John Edwards: Senator Clinton and anyone else who voted for this war has to search themselves and decide whether they believe they've voted the right way; if so, they can support their vote.

Hillary Clinton: I've said many times that if I knew then what I now know, I would not have voted that way. But I think the real question before us is, what do we do now? ... I can only end by saying that, you know, if the president does not get us out of Iraq, when I'm president, I will.

Dennnis Kucinich: People have to see who had the judgment and the wisdom not to go to war in the first place, and I made the choice not to go to war.

Gov. Richardson: Let me be very clear about my position. This war is a disaster. We must end this war. This is what I would do if I were president today. I would withdraw all of our troops, including residual troops, by the end of this calendar year.

Chris Dodd: We're more vulnerable today, we're far less secure, we're more isolated in the world as a result of this policy. This is a failed policy.