HotShot Blog

The war in Iraq is still quagmire, the insurgency continues, more than 2,000 American soldiers and countless Iraqis have died, and a solid majority of Americans have concluded this war was not worth it. Disapproval ratings for the President and for Republicans in Congress have topped 60 and even 65 percent. Bush is now the least popular president since Nixon during Watergate.

In response, the Bush administration has decided it's going to get serious and change their strategy about fighting the war. Except I'm not talking about Iraq. The administration is more concerned with fighting a public relations war back home. Beginning on Veteran's Day, which is supposed to be a day to respect and celebrate our men and women in uniform, President Bush started a series of partisan speeches lashing out at anyone who dares to criticize the Iraq war. In his temper tantrum, he derided opponents as being unpatriotic and giving aid and comfort to the enemy. Well Mr. President, it seems you just called a majority of the country traitors, since most Americans agree that you're a lying sack of shit that took us into an unwinnable mistake of a war.

In a more Orwellian sense of irony, Republicans are now running a full fledged campaign to demonize war opponents. They've set a media war room, led by a real-life traitor himself, Karl Rove. Not that there's really anything new about this. Every since Bush was elected, the Republicans have set up a permanent campaign operation designed to keep them functioning smoothly. Eventually, however, the American public figured it out, and now all the spin in the world won't save them.

The sad thing is that Bush probably could rally the country if he simply outlined a strategy and began to level with the American people. Instead of hiding behind catch slogans such as "win the war on terror" that even Republicans are tired of, he could give speeches detailing how we will help Iraq transition to sovereignty, what conditions must be met before we can withdraw troops, and when we can realistically meet those conditions.

Unless Bush actually changes course and outlines a plan, the Democrats are going to continue hammering the Republicans and rightfully winning the political battle. The media is finally started to move away from their loyal support of the GOP. Even the Iraqi leaders themselves want the United States to pull out.

For the first time, Iraq's political factions on Monday collectively called for a timetable for withdrawal of foreign forces, in a moment of consensus....

About 100 Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish leaders, many of whom will run in the election on Dec. 15, signed a closing memorandum on Monday that "demands a withdrawal of foreign troops on a specified timetable, dependent on an immediate national program for rebuilding the security forces," the statement said.

As Congressman Murtha said recently, the American people are light years ahead of politicians on this. So to Republicans, if you don't want to win, don't change anything you're doing and keep attacking your opponents as being unpatriotic. Because it's the surest way to lose your majority.