Republican Senators made the Iraq war their own on Wednesday when they refused to pass a bill simply guaranteeing our troops a reasonable respite between repeated tours in Iraq.

We've been calling it Bush's war, but GOP Senators have made certain that their support of Bush's war will be the main issue in Senate races in 2008.

They are very nervous about that prospect, and with good reason. By huge margins, the voters want that war to end and our troops to come home.

Republicans had a chance Wednesday to show they support the troops, as they always claim. Instead, they supported the President.

Now, looking for cover, they have thrown a smoke grendade in the direction of MoveOn, the liberal group that dared to question whether Gen. David Patraeus was fudging the numbers in his report to the Congress last week.

MoveOn's choice of language in its full page NY Times ad, calling him "General Betray Us," set many teeth on edge. I was one who said I wished the attack had not been personal.  I also said that having stars on your shoulders doesn't make you infallible; it just makes you think you are.

But, as Bush and the Republicans like to remind us, this is war. People are dying every day. If it takes ruffling a general's feathers to get some attention, so be it. Service members are dying to protect our right to freely express ourselves, even in unpopular or distasteful ways.

Or is the First Amendment off the list of things they are defending?