But then, incredibly, the leadership chose not the “whip” the vote. That means they decided not to lean on Republicans who have soured on the war and who are declaring for defeat.

 

The outrage that had been directed at the Senate’s waverers only two weeks ago is now building and erupting against not just the round heeled Republicans, but also with much more fury at the leadership. ~Hugh Hewitt

Not satisfied at sabotaging the re-election chances of several vulnerable Senators, Hugh Hewitt has made it his holy cause to ensure that the Democratic majority in the House also increases significantly by threatening the same kind of blackmail of the NRCC if it “fails” to abandon anti-surge members and “fails” to meddle in primaries in favour of “victory” candidates.  The name for his latest pathetic protest?  The Victory Caucus!

Rep. Ric Keller from Florida is already being targeted with a primary challenge because, in spite of elaborate qualifications about how much he supports the troops and the war and President Bush, he agrees with most serious analysts that the “surge” will fundamentally change nothing and will be a waste of American lives. 

He didn’t say “waste,” of course, because we all know, as Obama learned recently, that you can’t say that soldiers’ lives are “wasted” when they are being, well, wasted on a bad plan in a bad cause in an unjust war.  Saying the plain truth about a bad plan in particular is evidently more insulting to the soldiers in question than endorsing the plan that is about to get some of them killed for no good reason–don’t you see how patriotic it is to urge on the surge? 

So Keller and ten thirteen other Republicans in the House are supporting the Democratic resolution.  If the Senate gives us any idea about the level of actual disapproval of the surge, there are probably three times as many Republican members who don’t think the plan will achieve much of anything, but only a few are willing to go out on a limb and say so.  In fact, many of the members in question come from districts and states where they are undoubtedly under tremendous pressure from back home–that would be pressure from the constituents whose interests it is their duty to represent, by the way–to demonstrate some miniscule amount of displeasure with Mr. Bush’s decisions.

Some of the dissenting Republicans are members who have always been or who have become reliable antiwar Congressmen, such as Ron Paul, John Duncan and Walter Jones.  Then you have Tom Davis of Virginia, Castle of Delaware, English of Pennsylvania, Upton of Michigan, Kirk of Illinois, Gilchrest of Maryland, Walsh of New York, Coble of North Carolina, Ramstad of Minnesota and LaTourette of Ohio.  With the exception perhaps of Coble, you can see a pattern: most of these are districts from Democratic-leaning states.  Undoubtedly the political bloodbath in Pennsylvania, New York and Ohio for Republicans got the attention of Reps. English, Walsh and LaTourette.  Davis represents a suburban NOVA district, which is just the kind of district filled with disgruntled moderates and independents; Davis is deep in Webb country, and he recognises this.  Moreover, all of these Congressmen have the perfectly plausible argument that this plan is a bad idea and is unlikely to work.  For stating what ought to be obvious, Hewitt and his legions will try to drum them out of a “victory” GOP caucus.  Of course, the only time this caucus will enjoy any victories is in its name, because Hewitt’s proposed sabotage of House fundraising efforts will help to kill candidates in swing states and solidly Democratic states.    

I confess that I don’t quite understand the obsession with preventing Republicans from voting for a resolution that everyone acknowledges is a symbolic nothing.  I have a hard time grasping how anyone believes that the surge will lead to Hewitt’s oft-mentioned victory.  At best, it may calm things down for a few months, when it will be time for the Iraqis to take up the slack and everything deteriorates again.  Congressmen such as Rep. Keller express their frustration at the failures of the Maliki government, but, as usual, rather than directing their ire at the Maliki government, which is entirely compromised by Sadr’s forces, Hewitt and his allies have decided that targeting Congressmen like Keller, who espouse nothing but support for the war they think is so important, is the smart and necessary thing to do.  If I were Howard Dean, I would be loving the spectacle of Republican cannibalism right now.