It's pathetic, truly. I'm not going to bother taking apart yet another example of the Beltway's Finest Journamalism, but take a look at this quote:

Party leaders in the House are likely to present a proposal for binding legislation to the Democratic caucus next week, according to lawmakers in that chamber. But lawmakers and senior Democratic aides said Murtha's plan would have to be scaled back dramatically, after a week-long Republican assault.

Murtha, chairman of the Appropriations defense subcommittee and a leading critic of the war, had intended to fully fund Bush's $100 billion war request for the remainder of this fiscal year. But under his plan, those funds could be spent only to deploy combat troops deemed fully rested, trained and equipped.

After nearly four years of combat, most military units would not be able to meet those standards. Although the war would be fully funded, the policy would prevent some of the 21,500 additional combat troops from being deployed, and some troops already in Iraq would have to be sent home.

But that approach may be all but dead, according to several Democratic lawmakers. Murtha doomed his own plan in part by unveiling it on a left-wing Web site, inflaming party moderates.

Only in the Beltway, and then only in the rarified circles of the Gang of 500 and their warmongering masters, could Murtha's propsal seem extreme or unbalanced. Why do Republicans, DINOs and the WaPo hate the troops so much?

Ask anyone you meet today, "Do you think our troops should be rested and properly equipped before being sent back to Iraq for the third or fourth time?" The only people who will say no are the criminally insane. Which unfortunately, includes "moderates" running Congress, it seems.