Second Thoughts

According to this article in the New York Times, some staunch GOP voters are having second thoughts about their support of the war in Iraq. And they're letting their congressman, who was a strong supporter of the war, know it.

Through four elections, Debbie Thompson has supported Representative Mark Steven Kirk, a Republican and staunch backer of the Bush administration’s policies in Iraq.

But Ms. Thompson, a mother of two from this affluent suburb of Chicago, says her views on the war have evolved, and she now wants Mr. Kirk to change, too.

“My patience for this war, it’s run out,” said Ms. Thompson, 53. “I think this is the most expensive, stupidest thing ever done. My frustration has reached a level that is so unsettling, something has to be done.”

Mr. Kirk is apparently getting the message; he was one of the eleven Republicans who had that little come-to-Jesus meeting with the president a few weeks ago to tell him that the shit was beginning to hit the fan, and he's making noises on his blog that “The United States should increase the responsibilities of the elected Iraqi government to solve its own problems, while reducing the number of American combat troops sent overseas.”

This conversion -- or shall we say "re-evaluation" -- isn't so much that the mounting casualties and bleak forecast for America's role in re-shaping the future of Iraq have finally gotten to them. No, it's the one thing that puts the real panic in any politician: that sense of impending doom that they are on the wrong side of the issue and that Mr. Kirk and a lot of their GOP colleagues might lose their seats if they don't get us out of Iraq.

As much as they'd like to portray it as a realization that ending the war might save American lives, to them there's only one life they really care about: their own political future.