For the life of me (and for the lives of so many who died needlessly in Southeast Asia on both sides), I'll never understand how the media can describe the Democrats' "lesson of Vietnam" as the resolve to appear forevermore at least as hawkish as the noble Republicans. I see such discussions regularly lately, apparently in the attempt to account for the timidity, easy acquiescence, or even zealous enthusiasm of the official "opposition party" for the Administration's military adventurism in the Middle East.

Among the most important of the Democratic supporters of this nonsense is Senator Evan Bayh, Democrat of Indiana. In an amazing statement published in monday's NYTimes, he claims to be reflecting public opinion on the war:

"The majority of the American people tend to trust the Republican Party more on issues involving national security and defense than they do the Democratic Party," he said. "We need to work to improve our image on that score by taking a more aggressive [the italics are my ironic comment] posture with regard to Iraq, empowering the president."

Let me get this straight. The Democrats hope to prove how strong and aggressive they are by passively going along with those sexy macho Republicans who have apparently persuaded the entire country to think that the Democrats lost the Viet Nam war with their wimpy ways and we can never let that happen again. Yikes!