Question: John, what is your take on the Republicans moderates meeting with Bush? Tom Davis seems to be suggesting a strategy of "declare victory and leave". -- blue-hog

Answer: Politically, the GOP blue staters are caught between a rock and a hard place. The war is extremely unpopular with Democrats and Independents. However, if we surrender or set a politically motivated timeline, which is essentially just setting a date in the future when we surrender, Iraq will probably turn into a nightmare after we leave.

We're talking about a real civil war, genocide, terrorists setting up camp long term there, the oil supply being cut off and prices skyrocketing, invasions from its neighbors, etc. Now, there's no guarantee that those things will happen, but they seem likely to happen if we leave Iraq before the Iraqis can defend themselves.

So, if you vote to cut and run or vote for a politically motivated timeline, you, not George Bush, are responsible for what happens afterwards and my guess is, the American people would be even less pleased with the results of a surrender than they are with the progress of the war today.

That means Republicans who supported the war and then change their minds and vote for surrender could end up with the worst of both worlds if they side with the Democrats and force our troops in Iraq to run from Al-Qaeda for politics' sake.

The Democratic Party has a stain on its honor to this day after the way it behaved in Vietnam and it's about to add to it in Iraq. If Tom Davis and Company want to join them in that, that's their decision, but it will be a lose/lose for them any way they go, so why not do the right thing and stand for victory?