The conference report on HR 1591 cannot be long delayed.

House Progs, likely to be faced with a text further diluted from that House-passed text, are no doubt right now reviewing the situation.

The Hillpiece today has Brer Kucinch - the rag is a family firm! - refreshingly succinct for a pol:

What's the difference between Republicans and Democrats on the war? The Republicans don't want any timetables and the Democrats want non-binding ones.

There's more...

On Saturday, I queried whether the Progs should vote against the much-diluted Iraq bill.

Then, on Sunday, we had the Post story on leadership efforts to thumbscrew the Progs into supporting the bill.

By Monday, I was assuming that the Progs were pretty much beaten into submission, and ruminating on one or two long-shots.

That is, long-shots to defeat the bill.

There's more...

Yesterday - believe it or not - I went through the Dem personnel on the full Apps Committee to tot up the Progs. Just - y'know, for the hell of it.

Most particularly not because I thought...

But today what do I read (in the Hill,no less) but a slobberingly juicy lede like this:

House Democrats enjoy a 37-29 advantage over Republicans on the influential Appropriations Committee that will be voting Thursday to withdraw all troops from Iraq by August of next year, or earlier.

But the problem confronting leadership officials is that 12 of the panel Democrats are members of the Out of Iraq Caucus, meaning that if most Republicans reject the spending bill, the caucus has the ability to kill the measure.

There's more...

Just to make one thing clear at the outset: I have no doubt that, as a group, the Progs have surrendered on the Iraq supplemental bill and will be hors de combat on the subject for the foreseeable future.

(We have it both from our Chris and the Post piece he links.)

What follows I'd rate as of purely academic interest - no all-caps rant or comment spam Congressional fax number list will follow!

So, with the air duly cleared - what about it?

There's more...

The piece in the Posttoday gives me a Wha' happened? feeling.

It's got a feature-style lede, is full of inside information without even much of an acknowledgement of the fact - and is written in the tone of someone who's just become a good friend of Nancy - or who would like to!

The first few grafs kinda-sorta tell us that, quite probably, we're not in Kansas anymore:

There's more...