A recent Pew poll shows that 72% of Republicans believe the war in Iraq is going fairly well or very well. The surprise in the number isn’t that most Republicans remain solidly in favor of the invasion and occupation; it’s that their assessment is markedly more cheerful than the ones coming from the administration and the US military.

Never mind the conflict with reality: it’s the party’s stock in trade. But when one military official says an entire province is in the hands of insurgents and the regional commander doesn’t have the manpower to do anything about it, and another says the worsening security situation required an injection nearly 20,000 additional troops over the past few months rather than the projected steady decrease, and the administration describes the country as gripped in a life-and-death struggle with insurgents, death squads and terrorists, you have to wonder where that 72% are getting their news. Even Fox isn’t brimming with good tidings.

And then there’s this, from a joint appearance with Bush and Iraqi president Jamal Talibani.

I want to thank the President of Iraq for joining us. President Talabani, you and your colleagues here have given us time so we can strategize together to help you succeed, help you become a democracy, a country that can sustain itself and govern itself and defend itself, in the heart of the Middle East.

I want to congratulate the Iraqi people on your courage. These are tough times. There is still violence in your midst because extremists want to stop the advance of a free society. We spent time strategizing on how we can continue to help the Iraqi government provide security for her people. It’s not only security that comes from troops, but security that comes from economic vitality.

Okay: strategizing is good, and it’s progress; back in June, the president met with an entire team of administration, intelligence and military officials just to figure out “how to help strategize” with the then-new Iraqi government about achieving economic and physical security. And here it is less than four months later, a mere three and a half years into the occupation, and they’ve already moved on to the actual strategizing. Well done, lads! Cause for optimism indeed.

In fairness, brain-dead Republicans with a franchise to vote aren’t the only troubling indicator in the poll. 4% of self-described liberal Democrats say they’ll vote Republican in November. Possibly this is an effort to implement the Final Solution strategy advocated by a small minority of leftists, which is to keep Republicans in power long enough for them to do something so catastrophic that they’ll be finished as a party — a strategy that perhaps threatens the existence of the country more than it does the GOP, given the data in the survey — but more likely it’s just a tiny group of Republicans who don’t even know they’re Republicans.

For a complete rundown of the poll, which includes questions on a host of electoral issues and preferences (and a fair amount of good news for non-Republicans), download the full report here (small pdf file).

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