Norm Watch

Victor Davis Hanson's latest ruminates on the upcoming 2008 election and some of the dynamics we have to look forward to:

In general, I have supported the military's efforts consistently-and still adhere to a general past admission that when Army and Marine Captains, Majors, and Colonels-who are both in the field and also privy to larger tactical and strategic dilemmas-collectively seem to agree that we should not be in Iraq and cannot win, then that is a most valuable barometer, and we should not be in Iraq and must leave. Still, the war will end not when Democrats say so (a given), but when key Republican Senators this fall, worried about their positions in the 2008 election, defect and thus give the opposition a veto- and filibuster-proof 2/3s majority in matters cutting off funding, reminiscent of Vietnam circa 1974-5.

We just might happen to have one of those Republican Senators in Minnesota. The funny business associated with Norm Coleman's behavior on Comprehensive Immigration Reform does give one pause. He's a savvy political animal who understands the liberal inclinations of much of his constituency and he's a career politician with nowhere else to go, at least for the moment, and determined to keep his job. An unsettling combination when it comes to needing a guy with resolve in the big votes ahead. I still find it hard to believe Norm would go wobbly on such a significant issue. But to be safe, let's hope the Democrats aren't able to continue to convince the majority of Minnesota voters that the US has lost the war and pulling out immediately couldn't make things any worse.

Events on the ground will go a long way toward dictating this outcome. But the newspaper headlines and Democratic strategists are likely to press their defeatist public relations campaign no matter what. VDH's comment on the presidental election applies will apply to this campaign as well:

I assume that the 2008 election will be one of the most distasteful, dirtiest, and unpredictable campaigns in American history.