From the SF Chronicle:
Dems wield war debate to weaken GOP in 2008
Democratic Senate leaders knew going into Wednesday's procedural roll call on their proposal to withdraw most U.S. forces from Iraq that they didn't have the votes to win, but victory wasn't their goal.
Instead, the Democrats forced the Senate into a marathon 19-hour debate as a way of putting pressure on Republicans for their continued support of President Bush's Iraq policy, which polls show is opposed by large majorities of the American public.
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Experts disagree on whether the showy tactic of the all-night debate adopted by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., was a worthwhile political strategy. But they acknowledged that the Democrats in Congress won't drop their effort to force a troop withdrawal -- particularly in September, when the U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, is scheduled to report on the war's progress.
"I think it is effective,'' Julian Zelizer, congressional historian at Princeton University, said of the Senate's session. "It was a setup against these targeted Republicans to publicly push them to see what they will do and what they won't.
"I don't think legislating was the goal. It was to talk about Iraq," he added.
But Dan Schnur, a veteran Republican strategist in California, said the Democrats succeeded only in showing the public their own shortcomings.
Well, you don't need to be an expert to know that the GOP is backed into a September corner. In theory, if Bush were a normal politician, he'd use that as a pivot, blame the Iraqis and then start a withdrawal for which he'd take credit. Nixon would have done it in a heartbeat. Of course, a normal politician wouldn't find himself at 28% in the polls and ignore what that's doing to the party he supposedly heads.
ONLINE EXCLUSIVE
Will Bush's problems damage the GOP franchise in 2008?
...
In polls, those aligning with Republicans have dropped significantly, and the president's job approval numbers are approaching historic lows.
The question: Has Bush damaged the GOP franchise for any Republican running for election in 2008?
Democrats think so, and are already trying as hard as they can to link Republicans facing voters next year to the president.
So, which Ricard Nixon does Bush want to be?
In the absence of reality
President Bush shocked Capitol Hill staffers and Republican leaders Monday when he crashed a meeting at the White House to deliver a blunt message that he wasn't backing down on Iraq and Republicans need to understand that.
"It was stunning," said one GOP aide who attended the meeting. "We couldn't believe he came in."
it looks like a roadmap to the highest cliff in the area. Lemmings are like that, sometimes.