This is an interesting article in the LA Times on why the expected GOP turn against the war in Congress didn’t materialize in September:

Across the country, other Republican lawmakers who have broken with over the war are under fire from party loyalists.

…

Despite months of pressure, no more than eight Republican lawmakers in the House and Senate have backed any measure that mandates a troop withdrawal. And GOP strategists predict that is unlikely to change.

“Republicans have to be cognizant of where their base is,” said pollster Bob Wickers, whose company has worked with Republican candidates in a dozen states in recent years.

While most Americans want U.S. troops out of Iraq, Republicans remain solidly behind the president and the war. A recent CBS News survey found 58% of Republicans approve of the way Bush is handling the war, compared with just 5% of Democrats and 20% of independents.

GOP politicians have defied that sentiment at their peril.

That’s pretty sad if you think about it. The GOP base is willing to force their party into a 2nd crushing defeat in a row, just so that they can feel like Manly Men™.

The one single, faint hope with all this is that once GOP primaries are over, in an attempt to save their skins in November, GOP congressmen will start turning hard against the war.  However, we thought they’d do that before and they haven’t, so I’m not sure such a move could be described as “expected,” though I could see it.

Otherwise, GOP Congressmen are facing either defeat in their primaries or defeat in the general election.  Obviously either one has the same result, and if some of these anti-war Republicans lose in primaries, it may give the Democratic Party even more opportunities to pick up seats.

Hat tip to TPM.