How did a squirmy little congressman from a backwater planet become the most powerful figure in the galaxy?
He didn't do it by standing up to anyone, or by going toe-to-toe in a fair fight. Every step along the way, he stacked the deck in his own favor. And yet, he didn't really even try to hide a lot of what he was doing along the way. The Jedi knew that the clone army was created under weird and suspicious circumstances. But they simply felt they had no other choice. Every step along the way, Palpatine didn't voice a desire and then leave it up to someone else to accept it. In fact, he didn't really even try to control other's choices all the time. He put himself into positions where no matter what someone else would have chosen, he would have benefited either way. He created the circumstances where it was impossible for them not to act in his favor. He left nothing to chance.
The Democrats clearly have a long way to go. By all rights, it should be easier for an aggressor to end a war than start one. At the peak of his power, Bush started a war from nothing - it was a stunning display of exactly how to make it feel impossible to not go along with it. The Democrats' plan to end the war is still not really even close to having that sense of inevitability.
In the Clone Wars, Palpatine solved things by both creating needs, but also preparing solutions for those needs ahead of time. What's more, he made the solutions so obvious that it was impossible for them not to be chosen - he didn't even have to suggest them, he just let them present themselves and positioned himself to be swept along with the tide.
So, this is a thought experiment. Rather than having the Democratic Congress simply go toe-to-toe with Bush and hope he folds before we do, how can we further arrange things so that he simply has no choice? Without leaving it up to the news cycle and polls.
The objective here is to destroy the Republicans and end the war, in that order. Ending the war by giving Republicanism cover will lead to more Republican-fueled wars. I'd argue it doesn't really even make sense anymore to try and convince Republicans to be reasonable. It's clearly Republicanism that caused this whole problem. I think it's better to further escalate this and make it a partisan issue. Pound how we're right, make it partisan, and isolate Republicanism further.
Do the same with Bush, but he's largely irrelevant at this point. He cares more about his own power of the executive branch than he does about the future health of the Republican Party. He'll be gone soon. If the Republican Party is destroyed, then a strong executive branch works for Democratic purposes.
Then, create the circumstances under which it will be impossible for the Republicans not to cave or bring about their own destruction - at a time when they will be their weakest, with circumstances showing them to be their most hypocritical. Perhaps it is setting up a choice between having Iraq's ONLY benefit being to contractors and oil companies, versus us needing our armed forces for a military action that will actually be honoring the best of America. The Democrats could, for instance, unite behind a plan that would require several thousand of our troops to offer humanitarian aid somewhere where it's actually needed and where we would be the good guys. This would of course need a flashpoint to fuel that momentum - even if it were manufactured. For instance, maybe the situation in Darfur could be overstated so it would seem that a huge increase in genocide happened all of a sudden. Or maybe some other minor development overseas could be overstated and trumpeted up.
Again, a thought experiment. What are more ways to convince Republicans to walk themselves further out on their own limb? What are more ways to make Bush make choices that will make himself even weaker? What are ways to make our desired outcomes be simply inevitable?