Only Republicans are this stupid:

Seven Republican Senators -- seven renegade samurai, or ronin --- have essentially blasted in a letter just prepared in the last hour both the Democratic and Republican leadership for behind-the-scenes gamesmanship that undermined a floor debate about America's options in Iraq. While American citizens saw a procedural motion to move to "debate" the Warner-Levin Iraq War Resolution lose a 49-47 vote, what they did not see was a snarling, nasty tug-of-war between Reid and Durbin on one side and McConnell and Lott on the other that ripped the guts out of any possible comity needed to get to that debate. This writer has learned that Senators John Warner, Olympia Snowe, and Chuck Hagel -- and others -- were highly irritated, angry in fact, with both sides and elected to vote against the procedural motion until the party leaders on both sides of the aisle ceased their antics.

Steve Clemons applauds the "pox on both houses" tone of the letter, calling it a "brave move". Of the seven senators writing the letter -- Snowe, Warner, Hagel, Collins, Coleman, Smith and Voinovich -- only two voted for cloture -- Snowe and Coleman. The rest voted against cloture. How that is a "brave move" is beyond me.

They voted against cloture to debate this bill, now they whine that they didn't get a chance to debate their bill.

That's idiocy, not bravery. If they have a problem, it's with their Republican leadership who led the fight against debate.

Democrats were more than able and willing to debate this resolution.

The problem with these Republicans is that Collins, Warner, Coleman, and Smith face tough or potentially tough re-election battles in 2008, and this bill was going to offer them cover while accomplishing zero to actually end the war. Yet they were forced by their leadership to vote against their own resolution, giving Democrats a vicious electoral cudgel to use against them.

That's not Reid or Durbin's fault. It's no one's but their own.