Democrats don't get it.

Byline: The Register-Guard

Good grief! Now Democrats are demanding an apology from presidential adviser Karl Rove for calling them wimps in the war on terror.

It would be funny if it weren't so pitiful.

Rove, whom Democrats consider the evil genius behind their failure to wrest the White House from a candidate who can't pronounce "nuclear," on Wednesday night told a gathering of the New York Conservative Party that "Liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers." Conservatives, he said, "saw the savagery of 9/11 and the attacks and prepared for war."

But the diabolical Rove wasn't content merely to ridicule the liberal tradition of asking questions first and shooting later, he had to go for the jugular: "Al Jazeera now broadcasts to the region the words of Senator Durbin, certainly putting America's men and women in uniform in greater danger. No more needs to be said about the motives of liberals."

Rove was referring, of course, to Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois. Poor Durbin was mauled by the Rove-inspired Republican smear machine for having the audacity to suggest that U.S. mistreatment of prisoners dishonors American values. When Durbin overreached and said such mistreatment is reminiscent of Nazi or Soviet practices, Republican outrage knew no bounds.

Durbin was forced to tearfully apologize for offending those - and there were doubtless a great many - who might take umbrage at having American soldiers likened to Nazi storm troopers or Soviet gulag guards. That wasn't what Durbin actually said, but that's what the efficient Republican echo chamber made sure the public thought he said.

Because they've never understood the first thing about how to play this game, Democrats thought they saw an opportunity to turn the tables and take some heat off Durbin. Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, in a letter to Rove co-signed by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Democratic senators from Connecticut and New Jersey, called the presidential adviser's speech "a slap in the face to the unity that America achieved after Sept. 11, 2001." They were joined by other righteously indignant Democrats in calling for Rove to apologize or resign.

The only sound louder than the angry chorus of Democratic outrage was the laughter emanating from the White House at what patsies the Democrats have become. If the D's are really wondering who comes out ahead in these mud-wrestling matches, here's a hint: The name rhymes with "snarl stove."

When Democrats try to out-Rove the Republicans, Rove and Co. are free to keep things such as the Durbin debacle and Howard Dean's raving insults to millions of ordinary Republican Americans on the talk radio and cable TV airwaves indefinitely.

Democrats ought to care a lot about that, because it plays directly into Rove's efforts to divert attention from President Bush's domestic policy failures and the mounting national opposition to his invasion of Iraq. The Democrats don't need to waste time attacking what their opponents say, they need to stay focused on what they're actually doing.