Losing the battles and winning the war?

Now that the Thuglicans in the Senate won three more battles yesterday, I'm hoping that what they are really doing is speeding their chariot of fire headlong towards the cliff. There's little doubt now that the Dems should (if they're competent, which is sometimes questionable) to paint the war as a wholly Republican event (Lieberman excepted), which, barring the unforeseen, is likely to be a very unpopular position next year.

Unfortunately, the hard work begins when and if the Dems win. Then, the trick will be how to get out of Iraq without appearing to be "running from the enemy" as the Thuglicans will paint it. Hopefully, whichever Dem becomes Prez will have enough savvy to pull off a "we've won so we're leaving now" stunt believably. Otherwise, Juan Cole may well be right. The Dems will be in for one term -- just long enough to be blamed for losing the war, and then the Republicans will be back for the long haul.