At least inside the Beltway, Iraq is opening fissures in the solid bloc that is–or was–the Republican Party and its conservative base. Members in the House blasted their Republican colleagues for holding too many hearings on the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, accusing them of undermining the war effort in a bid for publicity. Long-dormant GOP isolationists re-emerged, with the usual cicadas–Patrick Buchanan and columnist Robert Novak–joined by Donald Devine, vice chairman of the American Conservative Union. The GOP interventionists were divided among themselves: between Bush loyalists who were ready to declare victory and leave ASAP, and hawks who insisted the United States needed more troops and a longer time horizon for nation-building.
For some Republicans–Sen. John McCain among them–the need is for sacrifice. “Throughout our history, wartime has been a time of sacrifice,” he declared. “I do not remember ever in the history of warfare when we cut taxes.” That was too much for Rep. Dennis Hastert, the usually soft-spoken Speaker of the House. “If you want to see sacrifice,” he told McCain, “visit our young men and women” at military hospitals. McCain–who was grievously wounded in Vietnam and who spent five years in Hanoi prison camps–kept his cool. “I fondly remember a time when real Republicans stood for fiscal responsibility,” he said. One top GOP Hill aide was more critical. “The Democrats are sucking up to McCain big time and our answer is to attack him?” he said. “Why not just order him to run with John Kerry? This is how you lose a presidential election–and the Congress along with it.”
In and around the White House, this is seen as sound and fury, signifying nothing. What matters, they know, is convincing increasingly skeptical voters that Bush has a detailed plan and timetable for establishing stability and ending American involvement in Iraq. That was the goal of a prime-time speech the president was planning to give this week at the Army War College, with a text hammered into shape by longtime aide Karen Hughes. Advisers were refusing to betray concern. “There is always hand-wringing that goes on in the election cycle,” says a top Bush aide. Indeed, outside the Beltway, Republicans remain remarkably supportive–fortified by $70 million worth of attack ads against Kerry, some targeted to reach the GOP vote by way of the History and Golf channels. “The Republicans are spending tons of money to shore up their base,” said Tad Devine, a Kerry adviser. Given the sour mood among Republicans in Washington, it’s probably a good idea.
