McCain, Graham Warn: GOP May Be In Trouble (AP)

The two Senators (John McCain and Lindsey Graham) were interviewed in South Carolina, where they were campaigning together for a Republican candidate for state office. They predicted tough times ahead for the GOP if things stay on their current path.

"[W]e can recover," McCain said. "Reagan recovered. Clinton recovered. We can recover."

The party must show "progress in Iraq, we need a comprehensive energy package and we need to stop this profligate spending," he warned.

"If the election were tomorrow, we'd be in trouble," agreed Graham, who said the party must work to cut spending.

Their prescription, in addition to restoring a measure of fiscal sanity? Honesty about Iraq, including lessons learned from the mistakes we've made and straight talk about the necessity of success and the consequences of failure:

The party, [Graham] said, must be honest enough to admit that things aren't going as well as hoped in Iraq.

"Democrats who have this cut-and-run strategy--the public doesn't want to follow that. They want to follow Republicans who understand the war is not going as well as it should but who understand that our security is better off with a successful outcome in Iraq," he said.

The message in Iraq, McCain said, "is we are making progress, we have to make progress and we regret the loss of every single young American. But the benefits of success are enormous."

Quick, somebody, anybody, please... get these guys a bigger microphone.

McCain, Graham Warn: GOP May Be In Trouble (AP)