Dick Lugar (R-IN) just picked up his toys and went home:
Sen. Richard Lugar, a senior Republican and a reliable vote for President Bush on the war, said Monday that Bush’s Iraq strategy was not working — and that the U.S. should downsize the military’s role.
[…] His position of not even waiting until the “surge” report due in September lines up with the recent editorial in the far more liberal Los Angeles Times. Few newspaper editorials have called for the start of a withdrawal. Polls have long shown that the public backs such a move by roughly 2 to 1, and that about 70% give President Bush a negative rating on his handling of the war.Lugar’s speech came as a surprise. Most Republicans have said they were willing to wait until September to see if Bush’s recently ordered troop buildup in Iraq was working.
“In my judgment, the costs and risks of continuing down the current path outweigh the potential benefits that might be achieved,” Lugar, R-Ind., said in a Senate floor speech. “Persisting indefinitely with the surge strategy will delay policy adjustments that have a better chance of protecting our vital interests over the long term.”
A wingnut’s wingnut, Lugar’s move provides massive political cover for other GOPers looking to jump ship while there’s still political mileage in it. I don’t know how many elected Republicans relish the idea of losing in 2008, but something tells me that the ridiculous public tide against them will sweep up a good number more before September.
Happy words aside, Dick Lugar could scribble his speech in a men’s room for all the practical good it will do. Unless Lugar has a veto-proof majority in his pocket, our present stalemate will go on at least into 2008. The Dems’ brilliant strategy of blinking first on the last supplemental pretty much guaranteed that. Lugar’s speech made clear that he has no plans to vote with the Dems, and Bush, as always, only listens to president Dick so I really have a hard time seeing what practical good these come-to-Jesus moments will do anybody.
Well, I do see one upshot. Lugar’s speech, which basically lays out the same pullout while keeping residual troops in Kuwait that “crazy” Jack Murtha proposed years ago, will inspire David Broder to wax lyrical about the hardheaded, realistic new thinking from Republicans.
***Update***
John Cole, who knows from Republicans better than I do, thinks that on international topics Lugar is less a wingnut’s wingnut and more Chuck Hagel in a dress. If so I stand corrected.