Senator Pete Domenici (R-NM) really likes President Bush and Vice President Cheney. He has had a strained relationship with John McCain for years — and when Bush beat McCain in the 2000 primaries, Domenici was absolutely “giddy” about it.
When Cheney was running with Bush in 2004 for their second term together, Domenici’s kingpin status at the helm of New Mexico Republican politics allowed him to orchestrate for Cheney “card-carrying Republican party members only” gatherings where independents or even “soft” Republicans were not permitted entry. There was outrage in the state but Domenici performed for Cheney and Bush.
But now Domenici is joining the likes of Senators Chuck Hagel, Susan Collins, George Voinovich, Richard Lugar, Norm Coleman, Gordon Smith and others in advocating a “change in America’s Iraq strategy.” That is code for ‘getting out.’
Domenici’s defection indicates a trend, but in and of itself is still not enough of a tilt to shut the Bush/Cheney war down.
— Steve Clemons
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