Senate Republicans are melting down over Iraq

All the Republicans, save one, on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted against the resolution opposing Bush's plan to escalate the war in Iraq. Led by their chairman, the usually reasonable Dick Lugar (R-IN), they tried to spin this debate the way they always do - it would send a bad message to the terrorists if we disagree with Bush:

A vote for the resolution "will confirm to our friends and allies that we are divided and in disarray," [Lugar] said.

So, all the Republicans on the committee except Senator Hagel (R-NE) voted against the resolution.

Only problem? That didn't stop those same Republicans from making statements right before the vote confirming that they oppose Bush's escalation plan, and thus confirming to our allies and our enemies that we are divided and in disarray.

Lugar called the Bush strategy "dubious" even as he denounced the resolution as "the legislative equivalent of a sound bite." Sen. John E. Sununu (R-N.H.) said additional troops should not be deployed until the Iraqi government showed more resolve. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said she opposed the president and was not afraid to tell him so. And Sen. George V. Voinovich (R-Ohio) said he had delivered a tough message to the White House personally: "You are not listening."

"Congress has allowed this war to go on without anyone having a stake," said an exasperated Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.). "We passed the debt on to future generations. Nobody has sacrificed but the military men and women and the families."

So, the Senate Republicans are opposed to the Bush escalation plan, are willing to voice that opposition publicly, but they feel that if they actually vote their opposition then somehow this will magically signal our allies, our troops, and our enemies that we are divided and in disarray over Iraq when their own public statements have already made clear to our allies, our troops, and our enemies that we are divided and in disarray.

Well, actually, scratch that. We're not divided at all. The overwhelming majority of Americans think this plan is insane. We are united in that. But by refusing to vote, the Republicans only prove what weak-kneed weasels they have become. The Republican party simply has no backbone to do anything to stop the madness of King George. If you thought 2006 was a tidal wave at the ballot box, just wait and see how the voters are going to treat these rubber-stamps in two years.