They know it's stupid, they don't care about that. The plan for Kerry and other Dems is to keep attention on themselves, and play to the left wing base. This will continue, the plan is to take credit for any partial withdrawals, and to paint any outcome as a "defeat."
You are right of course.
Sometimes I think the biggest problem the masses on the left have is that they can't think like the enemy. It's one of the most basic skills in any competition - to think "what is my opponent thinking?" - and they can't do it
The Lefts leaders know this so they can say any stupid thing and get away with it.