Yes, the future of the Republican Party is at stake in the next election. The US may not survive as a capitalist, First Amendment-honoring country if today's Democrat Party wins a landslide next year. The Iraq war threatens to give the Democrats a victory on that scale. With the Democrats in power, foreign AND domestic policy goes off the rails.
What sense does it make to ignore General Petraeus and decide the surge hasn’t worked, four months ahead of the schedule he laid out?
And the way to win is to concede defeat on the biggest direct national security threat of our time.
Your game plan is Chamberlain-esque. And I don't mean Wilt.