First step: Stop the escalation

Two different WaPo articles, one by Robert Novak and one by Michael Abramowitz, illustrate the reelection pressure that Republican senators are already feeling. They know it is the height of political folly to support escalation.

From Novak's piece:

It's Alice in Wonderland," Sen. Chuck Hagel, second-ranking Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee, told me in describing the proposal. "I'm absolutely opposed to sending any more troops to Iraq. It is folly."

But Sen. John Thune (S.D.) calls his support for the surge "conditional." Sen. Susan Collins (Maine) returned from Baghdad opposing more troops. Rep. Mark Kirk of Illinois, the only House member on the trip, is described as skeptical.

Abramowitz:

Sen. Sam Brownback (Kan.), another possible presidential contender, said in an interview Saturday that he could favor more troops if they were a "precursor" to political stability. But he added: "A short-term buildup in troops, if it simply is to impose military order without the possibility of political equilibrium, that doesn't seem to me to be too farsighted."

"We have got to get to some acceptable balance between the Sunnis and Shiites," Brownback said. "We cannot impose a military solution."

Brownback knows that supporting an Alice in Wonderland escalation would make him unelectable in the general, and could well be fatal in the primaries, given that polls show only 11 percent of Americans support an escalation--even if it is called a "surge."

Chambliss is also feeling the heat:

"I don't want to send more troops on a general wartime basis without them having a specific mission," said Chambliss, who is also up for reelection in 2008.

Bush has really put himself between a rock and a hard place. By delaying his announcement of a plan to escalate, he's raised the stakes that the speech represents. Republicans, especially those at electoral risks, are finally calling for a plan in advance of further deployments. Since there is nothing that the President can offer other than more of the same, he is going to hard put to find a new shade of lipstick to put on this pig.

Please, call or write your Senators if they are up in 2008. Get their positions, and pass them on to 21LittleSenators@gmail.com. The list of Senators up for reelection, with their contact information can be found here.