So Much for the "Surge" Saving Iraq

Hmmmmm...

It looks like many officials inside and outside the White House are still not so optimistic that Bush's proposed "escalation" will help: (from Washington Post)

Although officials said the president has yet to settle on an exact figure of new troops, senior military leaders and commanders are deeply worried that a "surge" of as many as five brigades, or 20,000 troops, in Iraq and Kuwait would tax U.S. ground forces already stretched to the breaking point -- and may still prove inadequate to quell sectarian violence and the Sunni insurgency. Some senior U.S. officials think it could even backfire.

"There is a lot of concern that this won't work," said one military official not authorized to speak publicly about the debate at the Pentagon.

So it doesn't look like the military leadership is on board with escalating thius failed war...
But what about the Congresscritters? Won't the GOP stand by Bush? Perhaps not everyone, says the LA Times:

Lawmakers from both parties — Democrats emboldened to oppose the war and the GOP worried about its 2008 electoral prospects — expressed skepticism about Bush's plans last week...

Sen. Mary L. Landrieu of Louisiana, a moderate Democrat who was one of 15 senators who met with Bush on Friday to share their concerns, said: "The president has … the burden of proof to give specific reasons and clear direction if, in fact, he's going to call for a troop surge. What that surge would do, how big it would be, how long the troops would stay, what cities, what neighborhoods, what his specific mission was — I think the American people's patience is wearing thin with vagueness."

Several Republicans, including Sens. Richard G. Lugar of Indiana and Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, have also expressed reservations about a surge plan.

As many as 10 of the Senate's 49 Republicans are either against or skeptical about the idea of a surge, the congressional aide said. "It would take a lot of specifics and a shorter-than-two-years time frame to bring them on board," the aide said.

Of course, the Democrats are skeptical about the escalation plan...
Personally, I'm wondering why they're even giving this lame-brained proposal any time of day! But still, I think it's interesting that even some GOPers are getting jittery over "The Surge"...
Perhaps reality is starting to settle in:

21 Senate GOPers and 202 House GOPers will be up for reelection in 2008. Oh yeah, and there's a Presidential Election as well! Do they really want their party to be held down by the continuing failure of Bush's war?

I think not.

While I don't think that the GOP will simply throw Bush overboard in the way that they did to Nixon in 1974 (Remember, there were moderates in that party back then!), I can see them distancing themselves from Bush on some key issues. Of course, we've already seen that happen on immigration...
And perhaps, the same will happen, to a certain extent, on Iraq.

I mean, who wants to be electricuted by such A SURGE?