HOME / the big idea: The thinking behind the news.

To Flee or Not To FleeHow Republicans handle a failing president.

By Jacob WeisbergPosted Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2007, at 4:03 PM ET

(Continued from page 1)

Many congressional Republicans who are not running for president probably share Hagel's anti-war views, but fear the wrath of the party's disciplinarians if they speak out. An object lesson was recently provided by Jeff Flake, an Arizona congressman who lost a coveted judiciary committee seat as punishment for siding with the Democrats on a reform vote against "earmarks." Johnny-come-lately doubters also face the problem of explaining why they're changing their minds after supporting Bush's war for the past four years. For most of them, the safest course is to sound skeptical without crossing Bush directly, while hoping that Democrats become uncowed and miscalculate by trying to cut off funding to the troops. Virginia's John Warner, the senior Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee who has been calling for more time to consider the president's plan, is the master of this sort of fog and fudge. His latest apprentice is David Vitter, the junior senator from Louisiana. "I'm open to the president's plan, but I need to learn a whole lot more of the details," Vitter said recently. By the time he masters the details, Bush will have started another war.

Finally, there are those who face a simple hackish imperative. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky last week called Bush's surge speech "courageous and correct." House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio says the plan offers "our best shot at victory in Iraq." It doesn't much matter if they really think so. If your job is to keep order on a sinking ship, you can't very well run for the lifeboats yourself.

We saw these types during Watergate as well—Bush's father, then chairman of the Republican National Committee, was one of them. The greatest was the comically loyal Earl Landgrebe, a now forgotten Indiana congressman. "Don't confuse me with the facts," Landgrebe said the day before Nixon resigned. "I'm going to stick with my President even if he and I have to be taken out of this building and shot." That remains the default Republican position. It's going to be sorely tested in the months ahead.

Print This ArticlePRINTEmail to a FriendE-MAILShare This ArticleRECOMMEND...Get Slate RSS FeedsRSS
Jacob Weisberg is chairman and editor-in-chief of the Slate Group and author of The Bush Tragedy. Follow him at http://twitter.com/jacobwe.
Photograph of President George W. Bush by Olivier Douliery/ABACAUSA.
What did you think of this article?
Join The Fray: Our Reader Discussion Forum
POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES
TODAY'S PICTURES
TODAY'S CARTOONS
TODAY'S DOONESBURY
TODAY'S VIDEO
The end of Prohibition.58/091204_TP.jpg
Cartoonists' take on Tiger Woods.37/091204_TC.jpg
Eaking-spay in ode-cay.52/091204_TD.jpg