Who knew such a thing was even possible? WaPo:

When Army Gen. David H. Petraeus last week proposed withdrawing more than 20,000 U.S. troops from Iraq, some congressional Democrats nodded their heads and saw it as a positive, if insufficient, step forward. Some wanted to take credit. After all, they reasoned, the drawdown, the benchmarks report, even Petraeus's Capitol Hill testimony came about only because of Democratic pressure.

Within hours, that idea was shot down. When House Democratic leaders convened in the office of Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) at 5:30 p.m. Monday, strategists concluded they were already getting credit for what was happening but that voters wanted much more. So Pelosi, according to aides at the meeting, insisted that Democrats coordinate their message and dictated what that message would be: The general's plan meant 10 more years of war, or even "endless war."

And here, Pelosi's telling nothing more than the truth--always best, as the Conservative movement is beginning to painfully discover**, because not only do you have to remember your lies, other people are more likely to remember your lies than you are. If the model for Iraq is Korea, as Bush has said it is, we'll be there for 50 years. Ponies for everyone! Iraq-4-Evah!

Now, to be fair_{MR SUBLIMINAL Why?}, I'd be even happier if the Pelosi and the Democrats weren't lagging indicators for public opinion.

Leah and I were talking about the coverage of Petraeus's testimony and Bush's speech, and we agreed that it was amazing how little torque the White House spin machine has had, of late. When the curtain fell on the kabuki performance, the talking point in the press was universally "kick the can down the road" (and not "the Democrats won't take Yes for an answer," feebly propagated by Bush flak Dana Perino in WaPo today, and originally propagated by not-very-useful putative liberal columnist David Ignatius).

So, it seems that Democratic message discipline--perhaps combined with a little reality therapy--is beginning to work.

We'll see.

NOTE Not that I would want a Democratic message machine that's "hooked on megaphonics" like the RNC and the VRWC. If the Democrats can connect to us in a more systematic fashion, the seeming chaos of the blogosphere will be seen for what it is: A densely connected network of smart committed people, all pulling more or less in the direction that principle Democrats (that is, not the Bush Dogs) would like. Note, please, any staffers reading this, that a decentralized network is far less easy to decapitate.

NOTE ** Hopefully, the pain will be excruciating, and take a long, long time. Turn about being fair play, and all.