5-14-07, 10:07 am

The House of Representatives approved a measure last week which would provide about half of the funds requested by President Bush to fund the war in Iraq.

The partial funding bill would also require the president to return to Congress in July to request additional funds and to provide some accountability for the war. It is seen as taking a step toward tying new funding to benchmarks for progress that could open the door to troop withdrawal.

Critics of the concept of benchmarks, however, view them as a means of helping the White House avoid direct accountability for the war by blaming the Iraqis for the civil war and by imposing harsh punishments on Iraq for the Bush administration's invasion and occupation of their country.

This particular approach to funding the war comes after the president vetoed a bill which would have funded the war and set a timetable for withdrawal.

Bush is threatening to veto this second attempt to fund the war, claiming that progress is being made in Iraq and that Congress should not limit war spending or demand answers for the chaos in Iraq.

Last Tuesday, 11 Republican members of Congress secretly met with Bush to express grave concerns about his credibility and candor on the failures of the war.

White House adviser Karl Rove reportedly threw a hissy fit when the Republicans leaked information about the meeting to the media, which was reported late Wednesday evening.

The signs that a growing number of Republicans are getting ready to break with Bush on the war has got some Republican ideologues in a panic. William Kristol, editor of the far-right rag Weekly Standard, described wavering Republicans as 'extremely stupid,' as 'ridiculous,' and as 'behaving foolishly,' according to The Raw Story.

Despite professed disagreement with Bush, the 11 Republicans refused to vote with the majority for a new direction, calling into question their own credibility, says antiwar group Americans United for Change.

In a press statement, the group noted that the 11 Republicans 'met with Bush and administration officials to deliver a 'blunt warning' and express 'frustration' over Bush’s pursuit of the war in Iraq. Twenty-four hours later, [they] voted with Bush to stay the course in Iraq.'

The group's statement further highlighted the fact that despite the best efforts of these particular members of Congress to distance themselves from Bush, there voting records show that they are nearly ideologically identical to Bush, voting for his policies time and again.

The meeting with the president appears to have been motivated more by growing antipathy in their home districts for their ongoing support for Bush's war. Voters are growing tired of their representatives' failure to challenge the president to change course and bring the war to an end.

During the 2008 campaign, voters can expect these 11 Republicans and others to sing a new tune. They will try to blur their records on this and other matters and to distance themselves from the president in order to save their jobs.

Expect them to run against their own records.

In another sign of the stiffening resolve of the public and Congress to bring the war to an end, the House also voted on an amendment to the funding bill that would have set a date for withdrawal nine months from the date of passage.

Though the amendment failed 171 to 255, the number of 'yes' votes surprised most political observers. The Washington Post described the vote has signaling growing congressional support for straight troop withdrawal and a warning to the White House that its obstinate position on Iraq will provoke more confrontations.

Save for the dwindling number of irrational and contradictory partisan supporters in Congress, the White House is nearly completely isolated. Nearly 7 in 10 Americans oppose the war, and almost 6 in 10 want the president to accept the congressional Democrats' plan to tie a timetable for ending the war to new funding.

President Bush refuses to listen to the people. He will use his veto power to block any new measure that isn't identical to what he wants. His pretense at calling for compromise is nothing more than show.

In April, we heard him talk about August as a month when the 'surge' will show real progress. Now it is May, and the word is that we'll have to wait until September. In a couple of weeks, expect October to be the month.

The 11 Republicans were right about one thing: Bush's credibility is shot.

The best way out of Bush's political quagmire here and the civil war in Iraq, given the current balance of forces and political mood, is to continue to pressure the Democratic leadership to stand up to him, while targeting Republican members of Congress who want to keep their jobs in 2008 to change their votes.

--Joel Wendland is managing editor of Political Affairs and can be reached at