Peter Ross Range never fails to annoy me:

Part of the Democrats’ problem has been cultural. Still notionally tied to the 20th century glory days of strong urban working class and ethnic voting blocs, some Democratic activists have trouble imagining themselves as the car-pool and mega-mall party. Educated elites in the core cities, university towns, and inner suburbs often reject the exurban lifestyle — big yards, big cars, big churches, big families — and thus refuse to embrace a politics based on their concerns. “I wouldn’t be caught dead in the suburbs,” one 20- something urban liberal told me recently in Washington’s leading political bookstore.

Seriously? That’s the evidence? One twentysomething liberal in Kramerbooks or Politics & Prose told him that he wouldn’t be caught dead in the suburbs and this is the source of the Democratic Party’s political woes? Obviously, though, the suburban lifestyle isn’t supposed to appeal to single young professionals. If the Democratic Party’s electoral fortunes genuinely hinge on convincing twentysomething activists that they find suburban living personally appealing then the party is fucked. But maybe if Range thought about this for ten minutes he’d see that his account doesn’t make sense. It’s just that he’s writing in Blueprint so he needs to find a way to take a random personal swipe at liberals.

On ABC’s This Week, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said it is unrealistic to expect the escalation strategy to change the situation in Iraq in “a few months”:

MCCAIN: Took us a long time to get in the situation we’re in, and to say that — and somehow assume that in a few months, that things are going to get all better I think is not realistic.

Just 47 seconds later, McCain said we’ll know whether the escalation strategy is working “in a few months”:

STEPHANOPOULOS: You say it’s all in. How long are you going to give it to work?

MCCAIN: I think in the case of the Iraqi government cooperating and doing what’s necessary, we can know fairly well in a few months.

Watch it:

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Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has introduced an Iraq resolution which sets out “benchmarks” for the Iraqi government, but does not spell out any consequences if the benchmarks aren’t met.

Asked about the resolution this morning on ABC’s This Week, McCain declared, “Well, the consequences are obvious.” But, he said, “I can’t tell you what the other options are, because there are no good options to this.” Watch it:

McCain isn’t the only one who can’t make sense of toothless benchmarks. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said last week that benchmarks were “the best way to determine if the Iraqis are holding up their end of the bargain but he stopped short of saying what the U.S. should do it the Iraqis fall short. ‘I think everyone knows what the consequences are,’ McConnell said without specifying what he thinks they are, even when pressed. ‘I’m not going to start playing out the scenarios,’ he added.”

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Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol said on Fox News this morning that the recent surge in Iraqi violence is a sign that the extremists are “worried.” Kristol said, “If I were a Sunni extremist and was worried, which I would be, about a doubling of U.S. forces in Baghdad, what would I do? I would try to convey an impression of chaos.”

He added, “On the whole over the last two weeks, some of the news for Iraq is slightly optimistic.” Watch it:

In fact, recent reports from Iraq note that the escalation is “failing to bring results.” Here are some of the deadly acts of violence that have taken place in the last week alone:

January 28: Mortar shells rained down on a girls’ secondary school in a mostly Sunni area of western Baghdad, killing at least five students and wounding 20.

January 29: A daylong battle with heavily armed Iraqi fighters witnessed the downing of a U.S. helicopter, killing two U.S. troops.

January 30: Bombings, mortar attacks, and shootings killed at least 36 people across Iraq.

January 31: Bombers struck Shiite worshipers during ceremonies marking Ashura, the holiest day of the Shiite calendar. At least 58 people were killed.

February 1: At least 24 Iraqis were killed and dozens injured in bomb blasts, gunfire and other violence.

February 2: A pair of suicide bombers detonated explosives among shoppers in a crowded outdoor market Thursday in a Shiite city south of Baghdad. The attack killed 45 people and wounded 150.

February 3: A suicide bomber killed 135 persons yesterday in the deadliest single explosion in Iraq since the 2003 war began.

February 4: For the first time, the U.S. command publicly acknowledges that four downed U.S. helicopters were lost due to enemy fire.

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chief U.S. military spokesman William Caldwell told reporters in Baghdad. “We have had four helicopters shot down … It appears they were all the result of some kind of ground fire.”