Purple fingers of democracy at the State of the Union.

Driving home in the car today -- attempting to assume the "aggressive competence" persona I'm told fits my new car -- I was listening to CNN and heard a report that there would be jars of purple ink for members of Congress to dip their fingers in to show solidarity with the Iraqis who had to dip their fingers in purple ink to vote last Sunday. One newsman asked if the Democrats were going to go along with it, and the other answered that some were saying it was just a political stunt. The first one then grumbled something like: after all the Americans who have already died in Iraq, how much more solidarity do we have to show?

You know, maybe it is a bit of a stunt, but it is so good-hearted and for such an important ideal, that the Democrats are political fools if they choose this as a place to push back against the President. I'll be interested to see how it turns out. I bet Hillary dips!

Here's a link to an L.A. Times story on the subject. And here's my colleague Gordon Smith's post from last Sunday, saying President Bush should have a purple-inked finger during the State of the Union.

UPDATE: The big finger showdown did not take place. They must have talked it out and decided it wasn't going to work out well.

ANOTHER UPDATE: I take that back. Apparently, at some point, there was some finger waving. I wasn't looking at the screen the whole time.