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I wouldn't hold my breath.
OTOH
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Rollcall Notes The Pledge
Posted by Hugh Hewitt | 8:44 AM
From RollCall's story on The Pledge (subscription required):

[ The Web site — www.thenrscpledge.com — boasted around 30,000 signers as of Monday, and that’s a cause of concern for Senate Republicans.

NRSC spokeswoman Rebecca Fisher said Monday the committee is taking Hewitt’s effort seriously, indicating the NRSC is concerned about the practical implications it might have on fundraising and grass-roots support for GOP Senate candidates.

“Of course we worry about the effect something like this has on online fundraising,” Fisher said. “As we explore different methods of fundraising, we have to be sure that we can effectively take advantage of every available avenue. And with a response like this blog has received, we take notice.” ]

The Pledge has passed 30,000 signers, but that is only one measure of disgust with Congressional double-mindedness on the war among victory Republicans. Beltway earmuffs appear to have cut off many Republicans from hearing what many of their constituents and supporters are saying, and if the next few weeks and months become attempts to me-to Democratic obstructionism and defeatism on the war, the base that turned out and kept many other Republicans from defeat in November will turn exclusively to the presidential campaign as the only place in which to invest their political energy in support of a candidate who understands the stakes and has a clear grasp of the war and the significance of Iraq within it.

There is also an opportunity for any Republican with what passes for political courage these days to stand up and repeatedly defend the idea of victory. Denouncing the various resolutions is a great place to start, but spending some time stripping the "last chance" rhetoric of its very thin appeal would be wise as well.

What, exactly, do the last chancers mean? That if this Iraqi government --less than a year old-- can't somehow defeat the Iranian funded and organized fifth column (which Israel could not do this past summer) or eradicate al Qaeda (which the Karzai government, the U.S. and NATO haven't been able to do in Afghanistan after five years), that the U.S. will pull up stakes? That the eight million purple fingered Iraqis will be left to their own devices because a half dozen Congressmen and a couple of senators fear losing their seats?

We have watched for years as Congressman after Congressman rued the abandonment of Rawanda and implied that intervention ought to have been mounted there. We watched as the Congress sprang to its feet at the mention of Darfur a week ago. Congress, it appears, is always willing to ride to the rescue when no rescue is being mounted.

But here in Iraq in the heart of the most unstable region in the world, with an expansionist and reckless Iran --led by fanatics and closing in on nukes-- on the border and funding the killing, Congressmen from both parties are declaring "last chances" for Iraq and packing the wagons. How bitter Iraqis must be when they hear six figure a year men and women declare "last chances" as they hear the sound of car bombs or bullets, and especially when they read about the dilemmas facing Republicans who had "close calls" in November or who face "tough fights" in '08.

"Benchmarks" are either deadlines after which abandonment looms or poses struck for political cover. Both are the opposite of what is needed, which is resolve and the communication to the troops, our Iraqi allies, and the enemy that we intend to help the Iraqis get the stability and freedom they deserve.

The Republican Party isn't going to split over victory, but it is going to get a lesson in who deserves to lead it. And if that lesson is accompanied by diminution or even a collapse in small and medium donors disgusted with round-heeled Republicans, that will be a warning, not an end result, of an even greater abandonment of the effort to rebuild a majority in the Congress.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee can be e-mailed at webmaster@gopsenators.com.

The National Republican Congressional Committee can be e-mailed at website@nrcc.org.