It's kind of a running joke among progressives that the American people will tolerate almost any level or crime, corruption, or stupidity in their public officials, but if gas prices get too high, there's going to be trouble. I don't own a car and I drive as little as possible. But I still hear people complaining about gas prices. It appears that the Republicans have decided there's one last ace in the hole for maintaining domestic support for the war in Iraq. Rep. Jon Porter of Nevada explains:

Gasoline prices could rise to about $9 per gallon if the United States withdraws troops from Iraq prematurely, Rep. Jon Porter said he was told on a trip to Iraq that ended this week.

The Nevada Republican, who returned Tuesday from his fourth trip to Iraq, met with U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus, U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker, Iraqi Deputy President Tariq al-Hashimi and Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh.

"To a person, they said there would be genocide, gas prices in the U.S. would rise to eight or nine dollars a gallon, al-Qaida would continue its expansion, and Iran would take over that portion of the world if we leave," Porter said Wednesday in a phone interview from Las Vegas.

Porter did not elaborate on the assessment that gasoline prices could spike. His spokesman, Matt Leffingwell, said afterward that the scenario "makes sense if Iran moves into Iraq."

Porter "can't speculate directly on what is going to happen with gas prices, but the market prices for oil reflect the stability in that region," Leffingwell said.

If that happened it would be disruptive. A typical gastank holds 13 gallons. At $9/gallon that would mean a cost of $117 for every fill-up. Of course, Porter is just talking out of his ass. He went on his trip to Iraq with Rep. Ellen Tauscher of California and Rep. Jim Moran of Virginia. Here's what Tauscher had to say:

Tauscher, in a telephone interview from Iraq, said the group met Saturday with the surge's architect, Gen. David Petraeus, and with U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker.

"They obviously are advocates for the surge, they have a lot of data that shows more American troops on the ground, in those places where they are, create more stability," she said. "Not surprisingly, when you have the finest fighting force in the world and you add more of them, you get more security."

But those tactical advances aren't producing strategic progress, she said she told Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih, a Kurdish politician. "He is somebody that we really think is a pretty savvy guy ... but I delivered him a pretty stiff assessment," she said.

Based on what she has seen and heard before and during this trip, "we really don't think that they have used the time (provided by the surge) wisely or productively," Tauscher said she told Salih. "I tried to be as frank and as fair as I could be but also to deliver the message that we're deeply disappointed" with the Iraqi government's lack of progress on vital issues such as sharing oil revenues with the Iraqi people and implementing legislation on de-Ba'athification reform, she said.

"Not surprisingly, he blamed a lot on the Sunnis and their inability to coalesce around a leader and give that leader empowerment to make decisions that will stick," she said. "He made a very impassioned plea not to abandon them, to stick with them. ... These are all very sobering arguments, but in the end I told him I didn't support the surge because I didn't see enough political activity toward reconciliation."

Rep. Moran was more persuadable...or maybe he was just engaging in punditry.

In Baghdad on Saturday, just hours after his own meeting with General Petraeus, James P. Moran, a Virginia Democrat and senior member of the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, also said he was impressed with the presentation. “Based on the outline,” Mr. Moran said, “I just don’t see Congress pulling up stakes.”

In any case, they neither Tauscher nor Moran said a thing about $9/gallon gas. But let's make this a simple question. How far in debt should this country go, and how many lives should we sacrifice, just to put off the potential for a disruptive spike in gas prices?