On the August 29 edition of MSNBC's Hardball, guest host and MSNBC chief Washington correspondent Norah O'Donnell left unchallenged former Republican National Committee chairman James Gilmore's claim that “we should all agree that a precipitous withdrawal” from Iraq “would be injurious to the United States. I think most people would agree with that.” Gilmore, a former Virginia governor, later claimed that “the American people have expressed confidence in the Republican Party” to handle the war in Iraq. In fact, recent polling indicates that a majority of Americans support a timeline for U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq, and every recent poll has also shown that a plurality of respondents trust the Democrats to do a better job in handling the war in Iraq.

Polls show Americans favor a timetable for U.S. troop withdrawal

• An August 8-9 Opinion Dynamics/Fox News poll found that 58 percent of respondents favored withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq within the next year -- 27 percent of respondents thought the United States should “pull out all troops by year's end,” and 31 percent said the United States should “pull out all troops gradually over the next year.”
• An August 2-3 Opinion Research Corporation/CNN poll found that, when "[a]sked about a timetable for withdrawal of [U.S.] troops from Iraq, 57 percent of poll respondents said they supported the setting of such a timetable, while 40 percent did not and 4 percent had no opinion."
• A July 28-30 Gallup poll similarly showed that “55 [percent] of Americans agree that U.S. troops should either be withdrawn from Iraq immediately or by August 2007” -- 19 percent of respondents supported an immediate withdrawal, and an additional 36 percent supported a full withdrawal within a year.
• When a July 21-25 New York Times/CBS poll asked, “Do you think the United States should or should not set a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq?” 56 percent of respondents answered that the United States should set a timetable, while 40 percent disagreed.

All of the polls listed above had a margin of error of +/- 3 percentage points.

Polls show voters prefer Democrats to handle Iraq

• When an August 18-20 Opinion Research Corporation/CNN poll asked whether respondents “think the Republicans in Congress or the Democrats in Congress would do a better job of dealing” with “the situation in Iraq,” 47 percent favored Democrats, compared with 41 percent who chose Republicans.
• When an August 11-13 CBS News poll asked, “Regardless of how you usually vote, do you think the Republican Party or the Democratic Party is more likely to make the right decisions about the war in Iraq?” 38 percent of respondents thought the Democrats would make the right decisions, while 35 percent answered that Republicans would.
• An August 10-11 Newsweek poll found that “Americans trust them [Democrats] to do a better job than the Republicans” handling "[t]he situation in Iraq: 45 to 39."
• When an August 3-6 Washington Post/ABC News poll asked, “Which political party, the (Democrats) or the (Republicans), do you trust to do a better job handling the situation in Iraq?” 43 percent favored Democrats while 40 percent chose Republicans.

All of the polls listed above had a margin of error of +/- 3 percentage points.

As Media Matters for America has noted, media figures have recently claimed that the American public is “split” over the issue of U.S. withdrawal from Iraq, despite polling that indicates otherwise.

Gilmore made his remarks in response to a question from O'Donnell, who asked him whether Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's comparison of Bush administration opponents to people “appeasing the Nazis in [the] 1930s,” was “an appropriate analogy” because “this is not a traditional enemy that we're fighting. This is not an enemy with an army, with a navy, with uniforms.”

From the August 29 edition of MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews:

O'DONNELL: Let me ask Governor Gilmore about this, 'cause it's an interesting change of rhetoric that the administration has been using. They've been talking about Islamic fascists. And now, of course, Rumsfeld today saying that, essentially, this is like appeasing the Nazis in 1930s -- trying to set the war up on terror like the fight in World War II.

But it's a strangest of turns, because, as we've -- I've covered this administration, they've always made the point, especially from the Pentagon, this is not a traditional enemy that we're fighting. This is not an enemy with an army, with a navy, with uniforms. So, is that an appropriate analogy to say it's like fighting the Nazis?

GILMORE: Well, you know, Norah, I would say several things. Number one: I would say that we should all agree that a precipitous withdrawal would be injurious to the United States. I think most people agree with that.

And second of all, I think that this is a complicated situation. I think that this is a different kind of war. We've always said that it was a different kind of war, and if I were, at this point, trying to fight fascists, I'd want to make sure that we were intolerant of them and trying to kill them the way that we should be with Al Qaeda, and, at the same time, drawing to us people who are willing to ally with us, which means that we have to have a military strategy, a diplomatic strategy, and we have to capture the moral high ground everywhere. And that's the challenge that we face.

O'DONNELL: The Democrats responded to this, saying that this was a political rant by Secretary Rumsfeld to cover up the incompetence of this administration. That's the word the Democrats are going to use all through the next several weeks.

GILMORE: Well, they're using that word again. But I think that the American people have expressed confidence in the Republican Party because of its background of working and (inaudible) meeting these kinds of challenges. And I think we're still working to do that, but it is going to take a complicated view of the world. And I believe that absolutely.