Dems Preparing to Hand Bush Another Victory on the War

All the tough talk from Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi about demanding withdrawal language in any Iraq funding bill is going out the window. The Dems realize they can't win on this and the Department of Defense is fully prepared to send layoff notices to thousands of civilian (and union) workers and blame it on the Democrats. Consequently, they're going to pass a bill including the funds for the war with a bit of theater to try and salve the wounds of the wacky left who are sure to be livid about this latest Dem cave-in:

Democrats controlling Congress sent the most explicit signals yet on Thursday that they are resigned to providing additional funding for the war in Iraq before Congress adjourns for the year.

Conceding that President Bush is in a strong position as Congress seeks to wrap up its work, Democrats are cooking up a pre-Christmas endgame that would deliver tens of billions of dollars for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan on conditions acceptable to the White House.

The Iraq funding would ultimately be attached by Bush's Senate GOP allies to a $500 billion-plus "omnibus" appropriations bill taking shape in closed-door talks. That's the only way they would let the measure advance through the Senate.

House Democratic leaders, though hardly enthusiastic about the idea, recognize it is the only way for Democrats to have a chance to wrap up their long-unfinished budget work and adjourn just before Christmas.

I never had any doubt that Reid and Pelosi would quickly retreat on all their bluster. They couldn't afford to go into the Christmas recess with this issue hanging out there and possibly affecting the votes in Iowa and New Hampshire.