Just another poor boy off to fight a rich man’s war

The tide is turning, the dam is breaking, the bullshit looks like it's starting to stop. From the SF Chronicle:

President Bush carried through on his often-repeated threat Tuesday to veto a war spending bill requiring a U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq, but on Capitol Hill key Republicans started moving away from the administration's hard line against compromising with Democrats.

Republican lawmakers, who thus far had stayed solidly behind the president, say they could support binding benchmarks on the Baghdad government as the debate about the war goes forward in Congress.

Amid the showdown atmosphere, Bush is scheduled to meet with Democratic and Republican congressional leaders at the White House this afternoon to discuss how to proceed with a post-veto push to fund operations in Iraq.

Yee-hah. The cowboy has started to fall off his horse. Here's more:

Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Palo Alto, said Democrats realize their fight with Bush over the war will take a long time to play out.

"We're not going to abandon what the American people want us to do. It's about bringing the president around,'' Eshoo said. "He's driving a bad, indefensible strategy, and he's driving his own party into the ground.''

Here is some reasoned analysis of the bill that GWBush calls: "...deadline for failure"

The bill passed yesterday sets strict requirements for resting, training and equipping troops but would grant the president the authority to waive those restrictions, as long as he publicly justifies the waivers. The bill also establishes benchmarks for the Iraqi government to meet: Create a program to disarm militias, reduce sectarian violence, ease rules that purged the government of all former Baath Party members and approve a law on sharing oil revenue.

Unless the Bush administration determines by July 1 that those benchmarks are being met, troops would begin coming home immediately, with a goal of completing those withdrawals by the end of the year. If benchmarks are being met, troops would begin coming home no later than Oct. 1, with a goal of completing the troop pullout by April 1.

After combat forces are withdrawn, some troops could remain to protect U.S. facilities and diplomats, pursue terrorist organizations, and train and equip Iraqi security forces.

So it's somewhat non-binding, and allows for troops to stay after the magical 10.01 deadline?

Wow, how...flexible.

Clearly he doesn't care about this:


But mayby he cares about this?


No, because he just wants to have fun:



Bastard.