GOP Tipping Points Near On Iraq And Gonzales?

by Steve

"We have toed the line enough for the president, and we have gotten no thanks or gratitude. By and large, Republicans are sick of defending an ungrateful president."
--Annonymous Republican House member to the Post

Some poll results today make me wonder if we are near a tipping point on Iraq and the attorney firings, as the GOP may be cutting its losses soon. The latest Pew poll findings on Iraq are out today, and despite the drumbeat from the punditocracy about crazy lefties who want to get out of Iraq now, it appears that 59% of the country is now a crazy lefty who wants to get out within a year. This comes at a time when Republicans in both the House and Senate are now signaling that they are no longer willing to fight off the Democrats and defend the president on Iraq, and instead are now willing to support the removal of troops from Iraq as long as a certain withdrawal date is not specified to our opponents.

A solid majority of Americans say they want their congressional representative to support a bill calling for a withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq by August 2008. Nearly six-in-ten (59%) say they would like to see their representative vote for such legislation, compared with just 33% who want their representative to oppose it.

In other words, nearly six in 10 support the House Democrats’ Iraq legislation, which won’t be lost on the vulnerable GOP senators up for reelection next year. Today, Mitch McConnell predicted the measure would now pass the Senate, even with some Democrats voting against it, and then be ultimately vetoed by Bush. Note that the newest smear against Democrats from the GOP message machine is that this legislation is “surrender” legislation. Hey Mitch, tell that to the Kentuckians who have been lost in this war while you and your wife have been playing dress up at the cocktail weenie circuit inside the Beltway.

In other poll news, the latest Gallup poll for the USAT is out, and some of the findings are interesting.

Iraq:

Do you favor or oppose Congress doing the following?
Requiring U.S. troops to meet strict readiness criteria before being deployed to Iraq
Yes: 80%
No: 15%

Hello John Murtha.

Setting a withdrawal timeline for no later than Fall 2008
Yes: 60%
No: 38%

Attorney Firings:

Do you think the US attorneys were dismissed for political reasons or for not doing their jobs well?
Political reasons: 53%
Not doing their job well: 26%

Should Congress investigate this matter?
Yes: 72%
No: 21%

Should the White House invoke executive privilege or answer all questions?
Invoke executive privilege: 26%
Answer all questions: 68%

Should Congress issue subpoenas?
Yes: 68%
No: 24%

And tonight it appears that in its zeal to throw Deputy AG Paul McNulty under a bus to support Gonzales, the White House gave ABC News a copy of an internal White House email that it hasn’t given to Congress yet. The email points out that McNulty refused in his testimony to take direction from the White House to not comment on the reasons behind the firings.

McNulty's testimony directly conflicted with the approach Miers advised, according to an unreleased internal White House e-mail described to ABC News. According to that e-mail, sources said, Miers said the administration should take the firm position that it would not comment on personnel issues.

And if that wasn’t bad enough, the right wing nut job behind the Swifties has dredged up a scandal against Gonzales that has its roots back in Texas.