The Mother Of All PR Battles?

Stirring themselves from the sleepy and sometimes silly political days of summer, politicians and pundits will likely have one main theme over the coming weeks - Iraq and what to do about it. This week's pessimism by the GAO, countered by the White House's Petraeus-led surge on the Hill on September 11th. Bloggers, most already knowing which side they're on, are sure to be sniping at one another across the lines with everything they've got. So far, DailyKos has fired a few duds, one from which even Markos Moulitsas had to distance himself after flushing the post down the memory hole.

The Politico chose to ignore some recent polling showing a slight up tick in support for the war in this piece. According to them, positions currently remain mostly unchanged. It should be noted, that's despite a significant, organized anti-war effort underway through late summer.

So far, leadership aides in both parties say there are not clear signs that a months-long stalemate, largely on party lines, has broken — a standoff that has given Bush latitude to continue his policies even as polls show the war becoming steadily more unpopular.

It's also interesting that, as per CQ Today, it's the Democrats who appear to be changing their strategy. Such changes have resulted in a series of retreats on the issue of the war in the past.

Senate Democrats are revising their major war legislation to attract votes to pass and potentially launch a withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq by year’s end.

The Wall Street Journal has the latest in what's becoming another trend (subscription required) - mainstream news outlets, including the New York Times, publishing reports suggesting progress in Iraq:

Considering the speed with which these successes have developed, and the rapidly growing grass-roots movement among Iraqis to support the effort, there is every reason to be optimistic about the prospects for establishing security in Iraq, and every reason to continue supporting the current strategy.

Comments

[Michael Volpe]

I have long felt that the Democrats are too disorganized to do anything effective. They don't have the commitment to simply cut off funding, and beyond that they have everything including the kitchen sink as a plan to withdraw by a timetable.

You simply cannot have several plans for withdrawal all at once and expect to win, when the President, and the Republicans, stick by one plan. Think about it, on one side we stay with the surge which is showing signs of success, and on the other side we withdraw in 30 days, 60 days, 90 days, 120 days, six months, one year. We may leave a residual force, we may not. We may keep troops in Kuwait we may not. We may want to go after AQ and we may not.

Of course the Dems are looking at new tactics. They are in constant search for new tactics. What they don't have is a settled tactic to end the war, and without that the surge continues.