The anti-surge surge

Democrats are stepping up their opposition to everything Bush says, does, and stands for. This time it's the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. San Jose Mercury News:

A day after President Bush asked Congress to give his troop buildup in Iraq a chance to work, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted 12-9, mostly along party lines, to oppose it.

Even though most Republicans on the panel voted against the nonbinding resolution, they joined Democrats in speaking out against the president's policy in an emotional debate before the vote. One after another, the senators called for a way to turn over responsibility to Iraqis and avoid more American deaths and casualties in the midst of heavy sectarian bloodletting in Baghdad.

The full Senate will continue the debate when it considers the resolution next week.

"We'd better be damn sure, all of us, before we put 22,000 more people in that grinder," said Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb. He helped write the resolution and was the sole Republican who voted for it. "Maybe I'll be wrong, and maybe I'll have no political future, but I don't care about that," Hagel said. He told his colleagues that if they didn't want to make tough decisions, "go sell shoes."

The resolution says it's not in the national interest to increase military forces in Iraq. It suggests that the United States should transfer responsibility for security to Iraqis while American forces focus on such tasks as fighting terrorism.

Several reps and senators are on record supporting a troop increase, but when Bush wanted it, they said it was a bad idea. It's just like social security and Saddam Hussein's pursuit of WMDs. Democrats enjoy changing their minds 180 degrees the moment Bush agrees with them.