GOP firmly against redeployment... for the moment

The Democrats were thrashed last week for proposing legislation that would lead to troop withdrawals from Iraq, and it was defeated by Republicans largely along party lines. US generals have been calling for phased withdrawal, and the Iraq government has joined them. Media outlets reporting on calls for troops reduction failed to acknowledge the Republican insistence that any plan for withdrawal was tantamount to treason.

But the GOP is starting to talk troops withdrawal as well-- they just want to be sure they're the ones who propose it, and save it for a date closer to the elections.

Sen. Carl M. Levin (Mich.), one of the two sponsors of the nonbinding resolution, which offered no pace or completion date for a withdrawal, said the report is another sign of what he termed one of the "worst-kept secrets in town" -- that the administration intends to pull out troops before the midterm elections in November.

"It shouldn't be a political decision, but it is going to be with this administration," Levin said on "Fox News Sunday." "It's as clear as your face, which is mighty clear, that before this election, this November, there's going to be troop reductions in Iraq, and the president will then claim some kind of progress or victory."

I wouldn't bet against Levin on that one. And when it happens, there's no doubt in my mind that the mainstream press will convenienly forget how the Republicans fought tooth and nail against it-- until it became an election tactic.