Republicans feel like winners in Hill debate over Iraq war

Republicans appear convinced they are benefiting from the debate in Congress over Iraq, even though the war continues to divide the country and depress President Bush’s approval rating.

“Republicans want people to be asked to make a choice between what President Bush is doing now and what the Democrats would do,” said Republican strategist Grover Norquist.

“It’s like the old joke lines: `How’s your wife? Compared to what?’ By comparison, Murtha and Kerry make Bush look good,” said Mr. Norquist.

Rep. John P. Murtha, Pennsylvania Democrat, and Sen. John Kerry, Massachusetts Democrat, are outspoken proponents of resolutions to get U.S. troops out of Iraq, which strategists say has allowed Republicans to portray Democrats as the “cut-and-run” party.

“No question, the strategy Republicans are following forces the Democrats to confront the reality of what it means to be critical of the war effort, to say what their alternative is — to set a date certain for withdrawal, to conduct the war differently,” said Republican consultant Bob Heckman.

The strategy also puts the Democrats at a generic disadvantage similar to the one the Republicans had when Mr. Bush proposed reforming Social Security.

“I’m not sure the Democrats have great credibility on how to conduct a war,” said Mr. Heckman.

“One problem with Social Security reform is that people didn’t trust Republicans to reform a program that Republicans never liked in the first place, just as the public perceives the Democrats as not being enthusiastic about the use of American force abroad. The public doesn’t trust the Democrats to use that force properly.”

Republican strategist Jeff Bell said Republican lawmakers have shown a remarkably disciplined adherence to Republican National Chairman Ken Mehlman’s year-old plan to prevent Democrats from turning the 2006 elections into a referendum on the president and the war.

Mr. Mehlman’s called for Republicans to make the topic of Iraq a choice between the president’s goals of a stable, democratic Iraq that is not a training ground for terrorists, versus policy alternatives that Democrats should be encouraged or maneuvered into stating.

Mr. Bell said House Republicans were following the Mehlman strategy when they offered a symbolic resolution supporting the presidents’ goals in Iraq and rejecting a troop withdrawal timetable last week. Almost all House Republicans voted yes. While 42 Democrats also voted yes, the rest voted no.

“Republicans looked united behind the president and a positive outcome in Iraq, while the Democrats looked divided, with retreat as their only goal,” said Mr. Bell.

Mr. Murtha, a decorated Vietnam veteran, led the opposition to the nonbinding resolution.

Also last week in the Senate, Sen. Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican, took Mr. Kerry’s plan for troop withdrawal, which was still being negotiated among Democratic leaders, and pushed it for an immediate floor vote.

Only six Democrats voted for it — as the nightly news and the next day’s headlines reported.

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