Bob "Ol' Crankypants" Schieffer grilled Madame Speaker Pelosi relentlessy asking her what the Dems are prepared to DO to stop Bush's Bullshit Surge. The Dems have come up with a clever answer:

"If the president chooses to escalate the war, in his budget request, we want to see a distinction between what is there to support the troops who are there now," she said in an exclusive interview on Face The Nation.

"The American people and the Congress support those troops. We will not abandon them. But if the president wants to add to this mission, he is going to have to justify it and this is new for him because up until now the Republican Congress has given him a blank check with no oversight, no standards, no conditions," said Pelosi, D-Calif.

Basically, Nancy's threatening to deny funding for the "escalation" [nice job of inserting that word into the conversation!] while approving the funding to support the current expenses. It immunizes the Dems from the "you don't support the troops" accusations, while giving them a chance to do something to prevent Bush from making things worse.

Personally, I think that setting policy in order to avoid Right-Wing talking points is always a mistake because no matter what you do the Right Wing will cook up new bullshit talking points. Also, the ultimate goal, the Outcome that I (and the majority of Americans) want is to Get The Fuck Out of Iraq completely, ASAP.

But Nancy's performance today was encouraging. She handled herself well with o'l Crankypants who spent most of the interview asking the same question. She never blinked, even though that might not be entirely up to her...

The Pelosi-Reid letter was also encouraging. It was a strong public statement, which is a start. Huckleberry Graham kept bringing up the letter on today's MTP and getting really worked up about it. Biden, complete tool that he is, disavowed the letter saying it was a "red herring".

The Letter and the Partial Appropriation Stratagem will give the Wingnuts and Bush himself the fits in the next days. It will be fun to watch from the sidelines, some interesting partisan football. I still think we need to push the Dems towards the ultimate goal of GTFO (and restoring Constitutional Government) ASAP, while at the same time deflecting the inevitable Winger bullshit attacks.