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The House just completed voting, and has approved 246-182 the Democrats' defeatist resolution. This was expected: but the good news is, the 40-60 Republican defectors that the Democrats had been predicting failed to materialize. Only seventeen Republicans voted for the resolution --- and two Democrats broke ranks to vote against it. First, let us recognize the two Democrats who did the right thing: Representative Jim Marshall Phone: 202-225-6531 Fax: 202-225-3013 Web Email Representative Gene Taylor Phone: 202-225-5772 Fax: 202-225-7074 Web Email Note: The original version of this post incorrectly identified Reps. Baird and Nadler as the two dissenting Democrats. Sorry...

Today’s vote in the House will be significant only for the light it will cast on the Republicans. We know the Democrats are committed to defeat in Iraq, and Congressman Murtha is the gift of clarity that keeps giving. But we will also get the outlines of the extent of the White Flag Republicans, and while not all of them will draw the same level of ire as term-limit pledge breaking “Lawnboy” Ric “It Runs Like A Deere” Keller, the WFRs will not escape that designation even if the war goes well and Iraq stabilizes. At a crucial moment, they...

If you would be willing to support a primary challenger to Ric Keller, Republican from Orlando, a candidate who was for victory in Iraq, as well as experienced in both war and government and with an advanced degree in political science, please send me an e-mail stating the amount you would be willing to commit to immediately send to such a candidate upon his announcement of candidacy. My e-mail is hugh@hughhewitt.com. I think Ric Keller is in big trouble for having joined the White Flag Republicans. I was sent this this afternoon: Hugh, About an hour ago I read your...

How does an intervention in a caucus work? This needs to be answered because the House Republicans need one, and very soon. In the past three weeks I have spoken on air with every member of the GOP leadership: Republican Leader Boehner, Republican Whip Blunt, Republican Deputy Whip Cantor and Chairman of the National Republican Congressional Caucus Tom Cole. Each is a solid conservative, and each is strong supporter of victory in Iraq. And none would utter even the mildest criticism of their GOP colleagues who are in the process of deserting the war effort, “emboldening the enemy,” to use...

NRCC Chairman, Congressman Tom Cole of Oklahoma, on the impact, if any, of GOP members siding with Democrats on the Iraq resolution, and recruitment strategy. HH: Joined now by Congressman Tom Cole from Oklahoma. He is chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, first time on the program. Congressman Cole, welcome, good to have you. TC: Hey, great to be here. Thank you. HH: I know it’s a sad week for Republicans. Charlie Norwood, one of your colleagues, passing away from lung cancer after a long battle, and then you’ve got this battle going on in the Hill, so I...

I was listening to my colleague Hugh Hewitt's radio show the other when he was interviewing Republican Sen. Norm Coleman from Minnesota. It was nice to hear Sen. Coleman's apparent disdain for the idiotic, meaningless, non-binding Senate resolution complaining about the President's troop surge plan. In fact, here's what Sen. Coleman said to Hugh: [Bottom line is I voted against the resolution that I think is…I’m going to be very blunt…is a pull-out resolution. This isn’t an abandon Iraq resolution. The words don’t exactly say that, but I listened to John Murtha testify, and I listened to the reaction of...

The Washington Post reports at least five Republicans are committed to supporting the Levin-Warner resolution, but this does not square with what has been reported to me, and I won't be trusting the MSM to report this debate fairly. I do not believe that either Norm Coleman or Gordon Smith have declared that they will be voting for the defeatist resolution --rightfully called a "vote of no confidence" by John McCain yesterday-- and the GOP caucus may hold together and kill the resolution in its crib. The seven Republicans up for re-election in 2008 and listed by the Post as...

WASHINGTON - A few senators from President Bush's own party may determine the outcome of an Iraq war vote this week that would deal a blow to him. These Republicans, up for re-election in 2008, are faced with balancing party loyalty against voters' anger at a war that is generally unpopular in their states. On the table is a resolution by Sen. John Warner, R-Va., that would put the Senate on record as opposing President Bush's decision to send 21,500 more troops to Iraq. With Republicans ready to use parliamentary delays that would take 60 votes to force a vote...

Senator John Warner will join what appears to be a unanimous Senate Republican caucus in opposing a Senate vote on his anti-Bush administration resolution, unless competing resolutions are also voted on: "Senator Warner supports the Senate Republican leadership's effort to establish a free and open debate on Iraq on the Senate floor, including possible amendments," a spokesman for the Virginia Republican said yesterday afternoon. Earlier in the day, Mr. Warner told colleagues during a closed-door strategy meeting at the Library of Congress that he opposes the manner in which Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, is conducting debate on...

Much sooner than anyone had anticipated, the Congressional democrats forced upon their Republican counterparts a decisive action over the future of the Iraq war. Perhaps sensing the almost complete lack of energy in the GOP caucus in Senate and House, or perhaps because they feared that the president was simply not going to misread the losses of November as a repudiation of purposefulness in the war, Democrats got out their long knives and went after the president’s promise to send reinforcements and fresh leadership to Iraq. Slow Joe Biden lept into action and, taking a break from commenting on Barak...

HH: Got another Texan now, Col. Austin Bay of www.austinbay.net/blog, actually knows that, “Hell, Hoss, we’re at war.” Austin, welcome back. Always a pleasure. AB: Thanks, Hugh. Glad to be there. HH: Let’s remind people where they can get your latest, Embrace the Suck, a pamphlet. Where’s the website where they can grab that? AB: www.pamphletguys.com. I edited and put it together, Adam Bellow of Pamphletguys.com is the publisher. I encourage everybody to go take a look at it. I saw that the Los Angeles Times ran an op-ed of mine, but most of the op-ed was comprised of terms...

"What Does The Enemy Think?" Posted by Hugh Hewitt | 8:20 AM My conversation with House Republican Leader John Boehner is posted here. The audio is here. The interview triggered a flood of angry e-mail as the impression grows that Republican leaders are not only not supporting the war, but pretending to do so even as they offer resolutions in both chambers that can only be seen as votes of no confidence in President Bush, Secretary of Defense Gates, General Petraeus and the troops. One exchange with Congressman Boehner: HH: What do you think the enemy thinks about your benchmark...

It's not "nearly 10,000" signatures. It's 16,000+ signatures. And while your reporter couldn't get a comment from the NRSC, the NRSC's Chairman John Ensign was interviewed at length, by me, on yesterday's program and the transcript posted on the web. In fact, over the past 40 hours, I have conducted five interviews with Republican senators on the absurd dance of the resolutions underway in the Senate: Norm Coleman, John Cornyn, John Ensign, Jon Kyl and John Thune. All the transcripts are posted. Together they provide the most comprehensive coverage of the Republican internal debate over how the war will supported...

Democrats took the first step toward a wartime repudiation of President Bush on Wednesday, convening a Senate committee to endorse legislation declaring that the deployment of additional troops to Iraq is "not in the national interest." "We better be damn sure we know what we're doing, all of us, before we put 22,000 more Americans into that grinder," said Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, the only Republican on the committee to announce support for the measure. Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., the panel's chairman, said the legislation is "not an attempt to embarrass the president. ... It's an attempt to save...

If the United States Senate passes a resolution, non-binding or otherwise, that criticizes the commitment of additional troops to Iraq that General Petraeus has asked for and that the president has pledged, and if the Senate does so after the testimony of General Petraeus on January 23 that such a resolution will be an encouragement to the enemy, I will not contribute to any Republican senator who voted for the resolution. Further, if any Republican senator who votes for such a resolution is a candidate for re-election in 2008, I will not contribute to the National Republican Senatorial Committee unless...

From the Washington Post's coverage of the House and Senate maneuvers to undercut the president and the troops: Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) took to the Senate floor yesterday to implore his colleagues not to go through with a vote on any resolution of opposition, calling the effort "pernicious" and "very, very dangerous." House Minority Leader Boehner's decision to break with the president yesterday, and the desperate attempt of John Warner and some of his Senate colleagues to split the difference between defeatist Democrats and round-heeled Republicans underscores that the GOP is now close to splitting on the war. Parties do...

Did you see that poll about Iraq suggesting that . . . What's that? Barack Obama? Oh, sorry. According to the new rules from the American Media Practitioners Association, we're obliged to make at least one flattering reference to Barack Obama per column, preferably accompanied by that picture USA Today used with his head framed by a kind of luminous halo thing. So OK, all together now: Barack Obama! What a wonderful phrase! Barack Obama! Ain't no passin' craze! It means no worries For the rest of your days! Barack Obama announced last week that he was forming an exploratory...

1) What does the new class of RINOs really want? Re-election. Convinced that the Republic cannot survive without their services, they will say and do anything to get elected. 2) That’s not entirely fair. For instance, Chuck Hagel has been a consistent and annoying critic of the war since almost day one. True. But you specifically asked about the new class of RINOs. Let’s call them the 11/7 Republicans. After the election results came pouring in, these Republicans took a hard look at Iraq and decided that it was a quagmire. The ones who are up for election in 2008...