Both of Texas’ Senators Stand With Bush On Iraq

Perhaps taking a cue from Stephen Hadley, Bush’s National Security advisor who rushed on over to Capitol Hill last week to stem the tide of defectors from Bush’s stand on the War in Iraq, both of Texas’ Senators, Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn, have announced their continued support for Bush’s escalation of the war.

Said Hutchison’s staffer:

“Absolutely not. She's been against a date certain for withdrawal from the beginning. ... We need to give the surge time to work. The full complement of 30,000 troops has only been there three weeks. We're seeing good signs in al-Anbar province. There's an offensive going on in Diyala province as we speak. We need to wait and see.”

Said Cornyn:

“It ought to be based on conditions on the ground rather than an arbitrary timetable. We need to give this a little bit of time to see if it can work, and I hope that it does.”

And also this:

“It boils down to how do we win and what constitutes a win. What we hope for and what's important to our national security is that we can stabilize it. ... We don't want to leave any safe havens for groups like al-Qaeda. That ought to be our goal, and I think we're making some progress.”

I see. It’s too soon to tell if “The Surge” is working.

Perhaps the senators from Texas were too busy to read CBS News’ most recent poll. Asked the question “Do you approve or disapprove of the way George W. Bush is handling the situation with Iraq?” Americans came back with 23% approving, and 70% disapproving.

To the question “How would you say things are going for the U.S. in its efforts to bring stability and order to Iraq? Would you say things are going very well, somewhat well, somewhat badly, or very badly?” Americans responded Very Well 1%, Somewhat well 21%, Somewhat badly 30%, Very badly 47%.

Truth is, I have never seen Americans so one-minded. Hutchison and Cornyn are so very out of step with the vast majority of Americans on this issue.

And I’ve seen it elsewhere but I’ll say it here, too. No one has united this country more than George W. Bush. He truly is a uniter, not a divider.