Could this be the most perfect expression of WINO-ism yet?

As you know, the GOP's WINO caucus is home to those Republicans who are Waverers In Name Only when it comes to Bush's war policies -- they are said to be "wavering" in their support for those policies, but won't vote for anything that would force a change in those policies.

With that in mind, let's take a look at this video of GOP Rep. Jim Ramstad. It was filmed by Americans Against Escalation in Iraq, and captures Ramstad talking to constituents about the war:

As you can see, early on Ramstad says, "I agree with Harry Reid." He's talking about Reid's frequent demand that Iraq benchmarks have "teeth." Ramstad seems to agree with Reid that some kind of punitive measures are required to force progress in Iraq. So Ramstad is wavering in his support of Bush's approach, which is opposed to such teeth, right?

Yet just a few seconds later on the very same tape, Ramstad declares what he's going to actually do: Support the Salazar-Alexander bill, which doesn't contain any real teeth at all. In fact, Reid himself denounced this same bill recently as follows: "There's not a single tooth in that proposal."

So first Ramstad agrees with Reid that we need some kind of teeth, but then immediately goes on to declare his support for a bill that Reid himself says is toothless. In 60 seconds or less, Ramstad went from calling for teeth to declaring support for something that has had all its teeth knocked out. In 60 seconds or less, he went from waverer to WINO. Wow!

Relatedly, it's worth pointing out that the Salazar-Alexander bill is fast gaining momentum as September approaches. Indeed, it is emerging as the last refuge for WINO Republicans, and GOPers are busily laying the groundwork for it by talking up how much bipartisan support it has. Of course, all it will do is give nervous GOPers a way of saying they voted against the war without forcing a real change of course in any meaningful way. So perhaps it's fitting that it has the support of the ultimate WINO.