Rethuglican Strategy

National Journal writes:

When asked to identify the most motivating factors for their core constituents, Democrats' picks were no surprise: nearly all 73 polled chose the war in Iraq, President Bush or both.

But party politics made more of an impression for Republicans. A 47-percent plurality of the 68 GOP insiders polled named "fear of a Democratic majority" as the issue with the most resonance for their party faithful. One insider conceded, "We've pretty much blown every other issue. Fear is the only motivating factor left on the table."

Fear indeed. The Republican message seems to be, "We wouldn't even be in Iraq right now if those Democrats controlled Congress." I don't see how it is supposed to help Republicans to put their stamp on Iraq and deny Democrat's joint-ownership of their miserable failure. In all fairness, everyone who voted for Gulf of Tonkin Resolution Part II--Democrat and Republican.

Frankly, I'm surprised the Republican strategy is not to pin the whole fiasco on the Democrats. They certainly have the media noise machine to get some traction with such a narrative.