I'm sorry, Senator Reid, Congressmen Obey and Murtha, and Big Tent Democrat, but September will be just like May, unless . . . you change this:

"I cannot vote ... to stop funding for our troops who are in harm's way."

-- Carl Levin

No, Rep. Obey, if you don't change the Carl Levins the following is b.s.:

Let's assume the whole Iraq funding fight for Congress was just "political foreplay," as a "Democratic leadership source" told CNN on Tuesday (emphasis added throughout):

A senior Democratic senator said late last week the last-minute attempts by Democrats to get a withdrawal timeline was "political foreplay."

A Democratic leadership source told CNN some two months ago that Democratic leaders knew they would have to send the president a war funding bill without a timeline, and that would likely mean a bill with significant Democratic defections and GOP support.

The maneuvering over the past several weeks has been a Democratic attempt to show their anti-war base that party leaders were trying until the 11th hour to stand up to the president, the source said.

Okay, that's bad enough, but my question for blogland is, "Was Dailykos in on the political foreplay?" Because it's pretty damn disturbing that Dailykos was virtually mum on the cave in from May 15 to 21 while it was being put together.

As usual, the 'progressive' blogosphere is jumping the "We give up!" gun and w-h-i-n-i-n-g like crazy. People, the key Iraq funding bill is still in play! The blogo-whine is about the news that's been widely expected since May 15 (where the h#@%ll were you 'progressives' this past week?), and something I've been shouting about in my echo chamber since then(all emphasis added):

Are the Congressional Democrats as we speak caving on Iraq (see the AP's Dems set war bill without Iraq timeline)? I'm not so sure, and I sure don't think we should prematurely shrug our shoulders. And, actually, apparently the leadership-constructed compromise hasn't even been seen yet by the rank-and-file in the more antiwar House.

But McJoan at dkos (Blank Check on its Way) certainly seems to have given up hope:

[Crossposted at myleftwing]

The war will be funded this week or it won't be . There will be a non-waivable deadline for getting nearly all our troops out by a 'date certain' or there won't be. And we antiwar Democrats won't be fooled again, right?

There was a lot of language thrown around -- accountability, deadline, waivable deadlines, 'set a date for U.S. troops to leave', goal -- in the news yesterday but it's a mystery what exactly the Iraq supplemental bill provisions are that the Senate, House, and executive branch are fighting over.

But the main resistance to caving in to the President is in the House, and so Nancy Pelosi now fights for a bill that a majority of her House Democrats will agree to. She doesn't want a Republicans + Blue Dog bill, so she is fighting for as 'antiwar' a bill she can get.

How antiwar -- and whether the final bill will be antiwar at all -- is unclear and in play right now. And whether it will be a bill Bush will or will not veto may be in play. Because, as for what the Democratic leadership is fighting for and/or about, we're down to reading word choices (emphasis added throughout):

I wrote about this yesterday ($95 Billion + Figleaf: Senate Dems Cave On Iraq!) but that was just the Progressive Democrats' 'word on the street'. Last night Congressional Quarterly provided the detail on how Senate Democrats' $95 Billion Supplemental (50 weeks of Iraq quagmire) betrayal of the Democratic Party's massive 'out of Iraq' base will play out.

The lead sentence tells all (all emphasis added):

Senate Democrats have apparently decided to disappear the great House bill (which had only 2 months of funding and then a vote in July that might have been the showdown on funding, and then another vote in September that even more likely would've been the showdown to get us out in 2007) and instead want to give Bush a $95 Billion Supplemental:

Next week, the Senate will vote on a new version of the supplemental war funding bill.  We don't know the details yet, but it looks like the Senate will give the President $95 billion for the war without
any fixed timeline for the withdrawal of our troops.  Call your Senator today, and next week to tell them to vote against the supplemental war funding bill, which amounts to a blank check for Bush/Cheney!

(cross posted at DailyKos)

The President has decided that the opinions of the American people are worthless. More, the President has decided that the troops can wait to get their funding, can wait to get proper training, can wait to get proper medical care, can wait to get redeployed out of a civil war that they cannot hope to stop.

The troops cannot wait! The American people cannot wait! The Congress of the United States must know that the American people vehemently oppose Bush's politicization of the war, his stubborn refusal to accept the reality on the ground in Iraq, his careless disregard for our troops, their families, and the American people.

Congress must not bend, must not yield, and must not give in to this President. The President is wrong. We know he is wrong. Over 60% of Americans know he is wrong.

More below the flip.