Moderate Republicans Getting Cold Feet

A group of moderate Republicans are threatening to fly the white flag if Iraq doesn't miraculously get better by September:

Moderate Republicans gave President Bush a blunt warning on his Iraq policy at a private White House meeting this week, telling the president that conditions needed to improve markedly by fall or more Republicans would desert him on the war.

The White House session demonstrated the grave unease many Republicans are feeling about the war, even as they continue to stand with the president against Democratic efforts to force a withdrawal of forces through a spending measure that has been a flash point for weeks.

Participants in the Tuesday meeting between Mr. Bush, senior administration officials and 11 members of a moderate bloc of House Republicans said the lawmakers were unusually candid with the president, telling him that public support for the war was crumbling in their swing districts.

One told Mr. Bush that voters back home favored a withdrawal even if it meant the war was judged a loss.

You have to wonder whether these GOP members are being influenced by the actual facts of what's going on in Iraq, or by the constant drumbeat of negative media coverage. If the GOP decides it's better to accept a loss in Iraq rather than a loss in November of 2008, who needs them? They're dangerous for the country either way.