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GROVER AGREES. Because my life isn't weird enough, I stopped by R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr.'s book party last night at Morton's Steakhouse, which celebrated the publication of The Clinton Crack-Up: The Boy President's Life After the White House with bottles of Beringer, steak sandwiches, crabcakes, and shrimp the size of my palm (definitely not kosher for Passover). While there, I got to talking with Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, whose thoughts about how the Republican base would react to a withdrawal from Iraq seem in sync with Andrea Mitchell's report (via TPMCafe) that G.O.P. Senators are ready to get out and are giving the president's surge until August to fail before saying so and breaking with him.
Said Grover:
The base isn't interested in Iraq. The base is for Bush. If Bush said tomorrow, we're leaving in two months, there would be no revolt.It sounds like Bush is the most vigorous hold-out in a party that is finally coming to its senses that withdrawal can and should be on the table; it also sounds like G.O.P. leaders would much prefer him to come around on Iraq so they don't have to start opposing him on it publicly.
--Garance Franke-Ruta
