Are congressional Democrats starting to wise up? After the Democrats' 41 useless Iraq bills, the Politico reports:
Each day lately, Democrats inch closer to giving President Bush more money for the war in Iraq without any serious mandates for withdrawing U.S. troops.
Democratic leaders are loath to acknowledge they've backed off, but lawmakers from both sides of the aisle, as well as congressional aides, say Democrats are trying to find a way to provide continued troop funding while searching for some compromises that show they're still intent on challenging the president on the war.
The possible conditions for troop funding include anti-torture rules and benchmarks for Iraqi political reconciliation, language sure to upset an impatient Democratic anti-war base that wants immediate troop withdrawals.
According to one senior Democratic lawmaker, there's a growing discomfort among pro-defense Democrats about linking a $50 billion Iraq measure to troop withdrawal.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: Democrats are starting to realize that Iraq is a losing situation...for them. They can't ignore the undeniable progress, but they don't want to ignore their left-wing supporters who are calling for immediate withdrawal.
Captain Ed says, "Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi have made themselves absurd on this issue. Just from a purely political point of view, one can only promise something a small number of times without delivering on it without losing all credibility."
Abe Greenwald at Contentions adds, "In light of the successful U.S. troop surge in Iraq, the word withdrawal may be heading for the same trash bin that contains those other dead letters exit strategy and civil war. Democratic lawmakers, made hypocrites by their own rhetoric, now find themselves funding the war they'd declared lost, and doing so more-or-less unconditionally."
Jules Crittenden and Michelle Malkin have more good commentary.
So, the Democrats are in a truly losing situation. What does this mean for 2008? Instapundit points us to a post from Don Surber, who spells it out quite clearly: "The War is twice as popular as Congress."
