News of the day: The House Democrats passed a bill last night.

From the Associated Press:

House Democrats pushed through a $50 billion bill for the Iraq war Wednesday night that would require President Bush to start bringing troops home in coming weeks with a goal of ending combat by December 2008.

The legislation, passed 218-203, was largely a symbolic jab at Bush, who already has begun reducing force levels but opposes a congressionally mandated timetable on the war. And while the measure was unlikely to pass in the Senate--let alone overcome a presidential veto--Democrats said they wanted voters to know they weren't giving up.

Let's give the do-nothing Democrats a gold star for effort.

But the Republicans aren't worried. The Politico's Crypt blog reports:

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) slammed Pelosi and the Democrats, calling the vote "yet another politically-motivated measure that cuts off funding for those continuing to serve our nation in Iraq and hamstrings the commanders who are leading them to victory."

Boehner said the bill "will never be signed into law, and it represents yet another failure for Democratic leaders intent on putting politics before accomplishment."

Bloggers agree with Boehner's analysis--and think the Democrats are making a foolish mistake.

Michelle Malkin has the best coverage, including the latest positive news from Iraq that the Democrats who want to withdraw seemed to have missed.

Gateway Pundit calls out the Dems: "It really doesn't matter how much success we see in Iraq, top democrats are still supporting a US defeat."

Don Surber recalls the Democrats' previous attempts at ending the war, noting, "I cannot verify who said this first, but insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

Macsmind adds, "Holding the troops hostage for political points, THIS is the Democratic Party!"

Captain Ed says that this is bad news for the Democrats, who "have played themselves into a checkmate on the Iraq war, and they know it. They can pass all of the 218-203 votes they wish, but they have no chance of altering war policy at this point in time short of completely defunding the war effort -- an option they didn't have the courage to use when they had some Republican support."

Keep on digging yourselves into that hole, Democrats. The Republican party will thank you in 2008.