The results of the congressional testimony last week by Gen. David Petraeus — George Bush’s new (hired) poodle now that Tony Blair is off the stage — are in, and, not surprisingly, he failed to change hearts and minds of regular Americans:

A USA TODAY/Gallup Poll taken Friday through Sunday found essentially no shift in views on whether U.S. forces are likely to win the war — two-thirds predict they won’t –and if the United States should set a firm timetable to remove troops.

In the days before Petraeus’ appearances and President Bush’s speech to the nation last week, 60 percent supported setting a timetable for withdrawal and sticking to it “regardless of what is going on in Iraq at the time.” Now 59 percent do.

(A CBS News poll taken after the testimony and after Bush’s “stay the course” address to the nation last week produced similar results.)

Of course, changing the minds of normal Americans was never the goal. Bush’s prime objective was, and is, to avoid having the ghastly ending to his war occur on his watch. He sent Gen. Petraeus to Capitol Hill to keep the GOP base in line, thereby ensuring the loyalty of Republicans in Congress. On that level, the Petraeus hearings were a smashing success.

And yet, as the Republicans line up to follow Bush once more into the breach, it is beginning to look like their loyalty to Dear Leader has become a death wish. What else could explain such selfless obedience to a president whose only noteworthy accomplishment has been the efficiency with which he has emptied the treasury, and whose pathological lying and ineptitude have left his party at least as politically damaged as it was when it was forced to cede power to the Democrats after Sen. Joe McCarthy’s reign of terror in the 1950s and after Watergate 20 years later?

Republicans in Congress must know that after the “surge” ends next spring and the number of U.S. security forces is no longer sufficient to flood the zone, the violence will resume to pre-surge levels or worse. If this happens, the violence will be ramping up in Iraq just as the 2008 election season enters its final heat.

This is particularly dangerous for Republicans in the Senate, where almost half the GOP seats (with Warner and Hagel dropping out, I think it’s up to 24) are up for grabs next year, compared with 12 seats for the Democrats. By following George Bush off a cliff one last time, Republicans in Congrewss could find themselves in January 2008 handing a veto-proof majority to the Democrats — one more time.