I never cease to be amazed at the ability of modern-day liberals and Democrats to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Because of high gas prices, congressional malfeasance, the usual six-year itch working against a presidential party, and declining public confidence that the Bush administration has a plan for victory in Iraq, Democrats have an golden opportunity to make gains in November, perhaps enough to take control of Congress. But on the most important issue facing the country, what is always the most important issue for the federal government — security — the Left’s delusions trump the convictions and intentions of the Democratic Center, such that it is.

A few examples:

€ During a Saturday interview on NPR, President Carter’s national security advisor, Zbigniew Brezezinski, went off on President Bush’s formulation of the war as being against the heirs of 20th century totalitarianism. Explicitly embracing the pre-9/11 mindset that terrorism is a criminal-justice issue, not a military or strategic one, Brezezinski denied that it posed a mortal threat. Fouad Ajami followed next on the program, by the way, and threw out this delicious gem: “Well, first of all, it would stand to reason that Zbigniew Brzezinski would say so, and I think Mr. Brzezinski should know something about getting lost in the alleyways of the Middle East.”

€ Joshua Holland, a writer for Alternet, speaks for many on the Left with these clueless words: “The threat posed by terrorists — like that of the Soviet menace during the Cold War — has been massively exaggerated…”

€ As already mentioned, Jay Rockefeller argued on CBS a couple of days ago that the world would be better off today without the coalition campaign in Iraq, even if that would mean Saddam Hussein was still in power.

If this is the message swing voters hear over the next two months, Democrats will fall short in an election year that, by all reasonable measures, should be colored azure.