On the November 1 edition of CNN's The Situation Room, during an interview in which he also stated that critics should not “blame what's happening in Iraq on [Defense Secretary Donald] Rumsfeld” because “the generals on the ground are in charge,” House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) falsely claimed that the Democratic plan to “pull out the troops” is not “what the American people want.” In response, host Wolf Blitzer stated: “Democrats would disagree with you.” In fact, recent polling shows that most Americans -- not just Democrats -- favor withdrawing troops from Iraq by wide margins, including a New York Times/CBS News poll released that day indicating that 54 percent of those polled believe the United States should set a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq, compared with 42 percent who believe there should be no timetable. The poll was conducted October 27-31.

Other recent polls also show public support for withdrawal, including a USA Today/Gallup poll (subscription required) that found that 63 percent of respondents would “approve” if Democrats "[s]et a time-table for withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq" upon regaining control of Congress. The poll was conducted October 20-22, and had a margin of error of +/-3 percentage points. According to an October 26-27 Newsweek poll, 61 percent of respondents “think the United States should set a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. military forces in Iraq,” and a Pew Research Center for the People and the Press poll conducted September 21-October 4 found that 53 percent of respondents favored a timetable for troop withdrawal from Iraq.

Later in the segment, Blitzer failed to challenge Boehner's claim that “over the last two years, as there were [sic] a need for the [House] ethics committee to operate, it was [House Democratic Leader] Nancy Pelosi [CA] and liberal Democrats who prevented the committee from operating.” Boehner was apparently referring to a 2005 letter Pelosi sent to House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-IL), which stated that the committee could not proceed with its regular business “until there is an assurance that the Committee's professional staff will continue to be a nonpartisan staff.” However, this letter was a response to committee chairman Rep. Doc Hastings's (R-WA) decision to terminate the employment of the committee's staff director and chief counsel John Vargo and hire Hastings's longtime chief of staff, Ed Cassidy, to take Vargo's position on the committee. While ethics committee rules require the staff to be nonpartisan and approved by a majority of the committee, Hastings attempted to circumvent this requirement by citing a separate provision that allows both the chairman and ranking member to appoint one staff member without majority support. Republican culpability for the ethics committee's failure to function has been extensively documented by Media Matters for America.

From the 4 p.m. ET hour of the November 1 edition of CNN's The Situation Room:

BOEHNER: Wolf, there's no question that there have been mistakes along the way. We're fighting an enemy that's unconventional, and we're -- and this has become the central front in our war with Al Qaeda. Al Qaeda continues to bring people into Iraq to let off these bombs, to stir up sectarian violence, and we're always having to adapt on the ground.

But the fact is Republicans want to win. Democrats want to give up and pull out the troops. I don't think that's what the American people want.

BLITZER: Well, Democrats will disagree with you.

[...]

BLITZER: Here is what Congressman Jeff Flake, Republican of Arizona, a man you know, said. “You can't blame the Democrats, but we certainly gave them a reason to do what they did. We simply didn't have an ethics committee process that worked at a time when we needed it. I feel badly that I didn't say anything and neither did other members. It's a pox on all of us.”

Remind our viewers -- this whole Mark Foley scandal, you were told that there was a problem there. You went to the speaker. He doesn't seem to remember what you told him. Is that right?

BOEHNER: He's not sure that I talked to him. I feel like I did. But that's not what the American people are wanting to talk about. They want to know who is going to keep their taxes low and keep the economy going, who's going to secure our borders, and who's going to provide the president the tools to take on the terrorists?

The ethics committee is working in a bipartisan manner dealing with this issue of Foley. But when you look back over the last two years, as there were a need for the ethics committee to operate, it was Nancy Pelosi and liberal Democrats who prevented the committee from operating. And it takes -- it's even numbers of Democrats and Republicans on the committee. I'm glad they're working together now.