I'm Gonna Marry Nancy Pelosi

Okay, maybe not. But I am in love with this woman and her ability to herd the cats of the US House of Representatives. Today, she was able to corral enough of them to pass a bill to get the troops out of Iraq no later than September 2008. It still has to go to the Senate, and conference committee, and may not seeing the light of day after today. But what an amazing accomplishment, and her speech this afternoon was on the money. The bill makes it clear that without benchmarks and accountability, the president doesn't get to continue to get money for the Iraq Civil War. It puts Bush in the unenviable position of vetoing funding for the war. What Americans will hear on their local newscasts is that Bush vetoed money for the troops, for whom he beats his chest and bleats his support. Until it's time to give them things they actually need, like leave, armor, yanno, the unimportant stuff.

Bush's response today was a photo op in which he broke a law, namely that you cannot use troops for political purposes. Hmmm, he had several military personnel in full dress uniform with him for his speechifying.

Meanwhile, there's the continuing shitstorm of the fired US Attorneys. Josh Marshall has owned this story since long before the mainstream media finally figured out there was a story there. Josh has every minute detail, and why they matter, at his blog. And it does matter, no matter what your Talking Heads on Cable tell you. It matters because it affects our entire system of justice. And it also matters because it was begun as a way to keep Democrats out of the polls. Amazing story. Amazing politics.