September 04, 2007 04:26 PM UTC

Vindication for Ken Salazar on Iraq?

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• by: Colorado Pols

The Denver Post’s Politics West blog reported on Friday:

Sen. Ken Salazar’s proposal to end the war in Iraq is gaining steam with the U.S. Senate’s top leader, according to the Washington Post.

The newspaper reported that a bill co-sponsored by the Colorado Democrat and Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., is being re-considered by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid as a way to forge a bipartisan compromise on the Iraq conflict.

The Salazar-Alexander proposal would transform the recommendations of the Iraq study group into official U.S. policy.

Released in December 2006, the Iraq study group report called for a phased withdrawal from Iraq and dialogue with Iran and Syria as part of a new diplomatic push in the Middle East…

Relax, we’re not going to gloat. What we will do is remind our readers of all the hell we caught for having the temerity to defend Sen. Salazar against some of the most bitter criticism we’ve ever seen leveled against a Democrat by other Democrats. We saw this summer how well the anti-war left’s uncompromising, unrealistic notions for ending the war flew in the real world — they didn’t. Harry Reid pandered to them and got burned. As the Washington Post notes:

Reid’s unwavering stance this summer earned him critics who said he was playing politics by refusing to bargain with antiwar Republicans. In the interview, he said that his goal remains an immediate return of U.S. troops but that now is the time to work with the GOP…

Will antiwar liberals allow the grownups in the Senate to work out a bipartisan solution to Iraq with a meaningful chance of success, or do they plan to keep squatting in Democrat congressional offices, accomplishing nothing while alienating friends and foes alike?

It’s put up or shut up time as Congress resumes the debate today–and say what you will about him, Ken Salazar has a strong hand to play.