Time is up for Bush in Iraq... even if he doesn't know it yet

July 15, 2007
Time is up for Bush in Iraq... even if he doesn't know it yet

WE HAVE reached, at long last, the beginning of the end in Iraq. President Bush is still suggesting that "staying the course" remains an option but he cuts an increasingly isolated, forlorn figure in Washington these days. Were Republican members of Congress to take their constituents' views into account, the majority of conservatives would be seeking a way to end the war now. It is just a matter of time before blood persuades them to reach that conclusion for themselves.

Electoral realities may force their hand. Thanks to gerrymandering and the financial advantages handed to incumbents, no fewer than 98% of sitting members of the House of Representatives are re-elected. It takes a political earthquake to change that, but Republicans worry, in private if not always yet in public, that such an earthquake is coming next November. The Senate offers no comfort either; 21 Republicans face re-election next year, compared with just 12 Democrats.