Lost

Let there be no mistake. This isn't about democracy in the mideast, weapons of mass destruction, al Qaeda, flypaper, purple ink-stained fingers, or "listening to the commanders on the ground." This is about the 2008 election.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) condemned the Iraqi government for its failure to resolve security and political problems more expeditiously and predicted that, unless the current troop surge succeeds, U.S. policy will be changed by year's end either by President Bush or congressional action.

McConnell, in an interview for washingtonpost.com's PostTalk program today, offered a harsh assessment of the Iraqi government's performance and made clear that neither the American people nor elected officials have unlimited patience for the U.S. commitment there.

"The Iraqi government hasn't done anything it said it would," McConnell said, pointing to lack of progress on oil revenue sharing and reducing sectarian violence. He added, "I don't think there are many Republican senators who are happy with what happened."

The Republican leader said the GOP's poor performance in the 2006 midterms elections resulted almost entirely from public dissatisfaction with the lack of progress in Iraq and implied that his party would suffer again in 2008 if that election becomes another referendum on Iraq.

"I think the Democrats would like to have another election on Iraq and Republicans would like to avoid it," he said.

[...]

McConnell said he remained optimistic that the funding bill can be approved by the end of the month but offered few details of a potentially workable compromise, other than to say that some kind of benchmarks for the Iraqi government remain part of the discussion. The White House opposes punitive benchmarks and McConnell predicted Bush ultimately will get the funding he wants for the war in the form he wants.

The funding fight, however, is not likely to end the debate over Iraq, he said, noting there are a number of bipartisan discussions underway on Capitol Hill that could result in policy changes. Unless the surge proves effective, he said, "I think there will be a different strategy soon in Iraq."

Such bullshit. If they thought "the surge" had a chance for success, a Republican leader would not be talking about "a different strategy soon in Iraq." And just as the surge isn't working, McConnell realizes that efforts by Republicans to hang "defeatocrat" on Democrats and howling that they're trying to "micromanage" the war have fallen flat with Americans. Instead, we'll have this shadow play throughout the summer and then announce "a new way forward" just in time for the '08 campaign.

In the meantime, how many U.S. soldiers and Iraqi civilians will die as Dick Cheney and the Republicans sternly shake their fingers at Maliki for the next three months.

But McConnell is kidding himself -- or lying -- if he thinks the crushing loss Republicans suffered last Fall was "entirely" because of the war, or as he puts it, "the albatross hanging around the president's neck." Na ha. The war was a symptom of the Republican's six years of giving carte blanche to the boy king. The voters recognized that. Oh, and then there's the corruption and sleaziness. And the lack of accountability that Republicans finally became accountable for last Fall continues.