Strategery.

Republic Congrescritters John Shadegg and Pete Hoekstra pen a 'Dear Colleague' about the anti-escalation resolution in the House (Steny Hoyer's posted a .pdf version of the whole miserable thing. The Carpetbagger Report has the plain text)…

...The debate should not be about the surge or its details. This debate should not even be about the Iraq war to date, mistakes that have been made, or whether we can, or cannot, win militarily. If we let the Democrats force us into a debate on the surge, or the current situation in Iraq, we lose.

So, they know they lose on the facts and merits. So what have they got? Something shiny, I'm sure...

Rather, the debate must be about the global threat of the radical Islamist movement.

Oooh. The Boogeyman. Good one. Of course Iraq's only making that threat worse, but it's worth another shot, isn't it? Should work as well as it did in, say, November '06.

And if you can't scare the rubes? Cry.