A Serious Argument

The GOP has a new line on Iraq: It’s the party of principle. “The situation in Iraq is certainly a political risk, but it’s too serious a situation for political calculations,” said Rep. Adam Putnam, the third ranking Republican in the House. 

Taking the high road has long been the route chosen by a political party that finds public opinion blocking the low road of politics. 

Rep. Christopher Shays, a moderate Republican who nearly lost his own seat over his initial vote to support the invasion, was even starker in his rejection of politics. “I’m so sick of the media asking me about the politics of Iraq,” he said, arguing that the war is “too serious for politics.”