The real "time table"

As I have discussed here many times there is a time table in Iraq and it really doesn't matter if Bush vetos timetables he has one anyway. House Minority Leader John Boehner admitted as much today.

WASHINGTON - The House Republican leader said Sunday that GOP support could waver if President Bush's Iraq war policy does not succeed by the fall.

But first, the president's troop increase deserves a shot, Minority Leader John Boehner (news, bio, voting record) said.

"We don't even have all of the 30,000 additional troops in Iraq yet, so we're supporting the president. We want this plan to have a chance of succeeding," said Boehner, R-Ohio.

"Over the course of the next three to four months, we'll have some idea how well the plan's working. Early signs are indicating there is clearly some success on a number of fronts," he said.

But, he added, "By the time we get to September or October, members are going to want to know how well this is working, and if it isn't, what's Plan B?"

Thus far, Republicans have stood behind the president's increasingly unpopular war policies, including the troop increase and an open-ended war commitment.

Yet Boehner's comments were an acknowledgment of the concern expressed by some lawmakers in private that their support could further damage the party, which lost control of Congress in the November elections.