First let me say I'm glad to be back after an extended absence caused by the fact that I broke my right wrist. My thanks to John Kerry and M.J. Rosenberg for hitting back at President Bush's outrageous "appeasement" remarks in Israel, and John McCain's "me too" response to the whole affair.

I want to address a different McCain issue -- his "vision" of a stable, democratic Iraq in which most U.S. combat troops have been withdrawn, by 2013! How's that for a profile in courage?

McCain's new "vision" may sound like a kinder, gentler approach to folks who hear the sound bite version of his position, but it's actually more of same. The notion that a continued U.S. presence will contribute to a democratic evolution in Iraq doesn't hold up to scrutiny. The current government is not in control of the country; the U.S. has managed to put itself in the position of alternately arming Sunni and Shiite factions while continuing to alienate many Iraqis who haven't taken sides in the chaotic violence that continues to plague the country; and growing numbers of Iraqis believe that the U.S. presence is exacerbating the violence, not containing it. So, absent a radical shift in U.S. policy and a breathtakingly fast political reconciliation among Iraq's factions, the notion of a "democratic Iraq" by 2013 is a pipe dream. At the same time that McCain is making outrageous suggestions that Barack Obama is "soft" on terrorism, it appears that the Senator from Arizona is "soft" in his appreciation of reality. And its the disdain for the "reality-based" community that has gotten us into so much trouble during the Bush era. No matter how he may try to distance himself, when push comes to shove McCain and Bush are joined at the hip in their foreign policy philosophies.