Democrat Sen. Russ Feingold, one of the individuals responsible for stifiling freedom of speech in this country with his "campaign finance reform" bill, has decided that he'd like to play president.

Sen. Russ Feingold, a Wisconsin Democrat, will call Thursday for the withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Iraq by Dec. 31, 2006.

Feingold, who is exploring a run for the presidency in 2008, told U.S. News: "I believe I am the first senator [to set a deadline]. It says: Here is the date by which we ought to finish the mission."

Arbitrary deadlines don't work, and if Feingold was honest he'd know that -- we've still got troops in Bosnia for crying out loud.

But what really got me was this justification for pulling out of Iraq:

"The president's policy in Iraq has played into the hands of the terrorists," he said. "Iraq is now the principal training ground for terrorists."

If Iraq is the principal training ground for terrorists, then why would we ever want to pull out? Think this through for a second Russ. We pull out before the Iraqi government has a handle on security. The nation collapses into civil war and then some or all of the nation comes under the control of terror supporters with access to some amount of oil revenues. At this point, what have we got, Russ? We've got Afghanistan pre-9/11 with a lot more money, that's what you've got, Russ. You've got a nation that is a terrorist sanctuary. With our troops chasing them down and rooting them out, they don't really have a lot of time to plan ahead for dirty bomb attacks on American cities, or simultaneous bombings on New York City subways.

You've just made the strongest case there is for staying the course -- we want our troops in the principal training grounds for terrorists.

"The concern about the Iraq war is very, very deep," Feingold said. "What we have now is sort of directionless policy with no real sense of how this ends. A deadline will help us a great deal to stabilize the situation in Iraq."

How exactly? Can anyone on the left explain how a deadline would help "stabilize the situation in Iraq" in the long run. Could a "deadline" have a short-term impact? Certainly, the terrorists would quietly train below the radar waiting for us to leave, and then ... well, we'd have to go back in if the Iraqi government was unable to deal with the threat.

Feingold also said that many within his own party are afraid of demanding a withdrawal of troops from Iraq for fear of being branded unpatriotic or anti-military.

I don't think that demanding a withdrawal of troops will get Democrats branded unpatriotic or anti-military. What it will get them branded is "too stupid to be entrusted with national security."