SCURRYING OFF A SINKING SHIP

This isn't going to mean much to anyone outside the New York City area, but former mayor Ed Koch has now turned against the war:

I'm bailing out. I will no longer defend the policy of keeping U.S. troops in Iraq to assist the Iraqi central government in the ongoing civil war. While our men and women in the military suffer casualties daily, the Iraqi government refuses to take the major political actions required to end the civil war....

This is surprising because Koch was one of the original Democrat-hating Democrats in the 1980s, and, for the most part, he's continued to be one ever since.

Not only did he endorse Bush in 2004 (and say at a campaign appearance with Dick Cheney that he "would give my life" to protect the Veep), as late as last December he called Bush "a hero" for his foreign-policy stubbornness. He also endorsed Joe Lieberman last year. And a mere seven weeks ago, he wrote:

To those who believe that when America leaves Iraq, Islamic terrorists will be satisfied and stop fighting, I say this: Wake up. The hard truth is that if we leave Iraq, the terrorists will continue their attacks on Americans everywhere, including our homeland. And they will use Iraq as the new base of their terrorist regime.

Pretty soon, it really will be just W, Laura, and Barney.