With their devoted (and loony) internet public clamoring to get the show started, the Democratic party finally unveiled their fall, 2008 clothing line amidst some confusion but tinged with the earnestness and empty headed idealistic mush we’ve all come to know and love.

Early reviews are largely negative although much better than the disastrous write ups that greeted their spring and summer lines.

You might recall that Chief Designer Murtha attempted to revive the “slow bleeding” madras fabric craze of the 1960’s for the spring by featuring sweeping silk peau de soie, silk satin crepe, and other touchy-feely fabrics in shades of verdi, teal, chocolate, topaz, rouge and amethyst . Unfortunately, the designs leaked (bled) out prior to the show and received such negative hype that CEO Pelosi decided to cancel Murtha’s showing in favor of the “non-binding” couture so beloved of her fellow designers. That too, fell flat with their legions of wild-eyed fans who were disappointed that their idols weren’t showing more backbone and trying to push the fashion envelope to its fullest.

Other lines were met with an equal lack of enthusiasm. One collection was actually taken in toto from 2002 (the “AUMF Collection” that has since become wildly unpopular) and modified it by stripping large segments from each design and replacing it with lots of incoherent patterns. Jorge Biden called it “Redefining” the collection. But this idea also was rejected by a majority of the critics.

But for fall, 2008, the Democrats may have recovered their equilibrium somewhat. Their collections are a little bolder, a little splashier, but still suffer from a timidity that has their fans begging for more:

House Democrats today unveiled a plan for pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq by the end of August 2008, introducing legislation that attaches a complex series of conditions to military spending requested by President Bush.

The plan, described in a Capitol Hill news conference by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and other Democratic leaders, would require Bush to certify that the Iraqi government is meeting military, political and economic benchmarks this year. If he cannot, it would move up the U.S. withdrawal to as early as the end of this year.

Regardless of Iraqi progress in meeting the benchmarks, the plan calls for the gradual redeployment of U.S. troops out of Iraq starting March 1, 2008, and ending within six months.

The most important fashion critic on the planet was not impressed:

Senior White House adviser Dan Bartlett, accompanying Bush on a flight to Latin America, told reporters, ‘’It’s safe to say it’s a nonstarter fot the president.’’

Within an hour of Pelosi’s news conference, House Republican Leader John Boehner attacked the measure. He said Democrats were proposing legislation that amounted to ‘’establishing and telegraphing to our enemy a timetable’’ that would result in failure of the U.S. military mission in Iraq.

‘’Gen. (David) Petraeus should be the one making the decisions on what happens on the ground in Iraq, not Nancy Pelosi or John Murtha,’’ the Ohio Republican added. Murtha, a Pennsylvania Democrat, has been heavily involved in crafting legislation designed to end U.S., participation in the war.

Needless to say, with that kind of review the Democrats fall line may be in deep trouble.

It may turn out as it has in the past that the Democrats, having thrashed about for a winning design that will satisfy the general public as well as their rabid internet fan base, will once again choose the option they have muddled through with before.

And that is wearing no clothes at all but trying to convince the rest of us they are decked out in resplendent fashion.