Fool me once...

...shame on you. Fool me twice, uh, you can't get fooled again. And fool me over and over again and I suspect the one you're fooling is yourself.

Greg Sargent at TPMCafe has gotten some excerpts from the House Dummycrat misleadership's bill related to Iraq.

[T]hough the bill mandates withdrawal by Fall 2008 at the latest, it's going to be at least partly a disappointment to some House liberals. That's because language that was in earlier drafts that would have clipped funding after the deadline - as opposed to merely declaring the war illegal - has been taken out.

House leaders will argue that the bill does do its job, because it declares the war illegal beyond a certain date. But liberal House sources say this removed language was critical in ending the war in practice, because it would enforce the war's end with the power of the purse rather than requiring a trip to court to force an end to the war should Bush insist on keeping it going in defiance of the legislation.

Exactly. What have the requirements of law meant to this administration so far? What requirements of the Constitution have they not felt free to ignore or subvert? What oath? What treaty? What solemn promise?

What the hell makes the Pelosi gang imagine for one second that come the end of August 2008 that Shrub will be unwilling to say that Congress can't override or limit his "authority as Commander-in-Chief to protect the lives and safety of American troops in the field" and "protect the nation from threats?" Dammit, I wish I had thought to save the link but I clearly recall reading not long ago of one member of the administration claiming that the original Iraq war resolution was actually unnecessary, that Bush could have gone ahead without one and that it was actually a political ploy to get Democrats to sign on to the war. We can certainly call bullshit on the argument but it still means that the White House is prepared to argue - in effect, already has argued - that Bush's CiC authority overrides any Congressional restriction.

They're not only gutless wonders, they're stupid gutless wonders. We are so screwed.

Footnote: Just to be clear, I have argued against the contention that the power of the purse is the only power Congress has, while agreeing it is the most effective and efficient. I maintain that Congress does indeed have the power to directly order the end to a conflict. What infuriates me here is the fanciful contention that Bush and the other acolytes of an imperial presidency would willingly acquiesce to such an order.