I rarely post straight quotes from online articles without analysis and commentary, but this paragraph from Joan Walsh at Salon is just about right, and doesn’t require a lot of embellishment:

Tomasky, like too many Democrats, simply accepts that attaching timelines to the funding bill is tantamount to “defunding the troops.” I’m trying hard not to indulge in lefty wishful thinking — that if only politicians stand up and talk tough on the war, they’ll be rewarded; I know it’s not that simple — but it seems like caving on this bill makes it harder for Democrats to claim they’re the party that wants to stop the war. Meanwhile, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi seems to be trying to have it both ways — she’s taking Reid’s line that the bill is a step forward in opposing the war, while telling CNN she’ll vote against anything that doesn’t contain timelines. “I think it’s a giant step to begin the end of the war,” Pelosi claims. I don’t believe she believes it’s a “giant” step, because it isn’t…

Not much to argue with there. It’ll be interesting to see who stakes out what ground when the bill actually comes up for a vote today.

Update: From the comments, Brendan points to a column this morning from David Sirota, which discusses some parliamentary maneuvering that’s expected to take place today prior to any vote on the supplemental funding bill. It’s outrageous, and as Sirota notes:

Here’s how it is expected to work today in a process only Dick Cheney could love (though you never know - it could change at the last minute). Every bill comes to the House floor with what is known as a “rule” that sets the terms of the debate over the legislation in question. House members first vote to approve this parliamentary rule, and then vote on the legislation. Today, however, Democrats are planning to include the Iraq Blank check bill IN the rule itself, meaning when the public goes to look for a vote on the Iraq supplemental bill, the public won’t find that…

So, have the House Dems figured out a way to keep the public in the dark about the vote of individual representatives? Sure seems like it. And if this vote goes forward as described by Sirota, the disgust level in the progressive wing of the Democratic Party will rise to heretofore unseen levels. DailyKos may explode. If the shady Dem plan happens, watch for low-flying bits of orange website in the liberal blogosphere…