This is the Harry Reid I admired:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid today joined Assistant Democratic Leader Dick Durbin, Democratic Conference Vice Chairman Charles Schumer, Democratic Conference Secretary Patty Murray, Senator Russ Feingold, and Senator Evan Bayh to announce a new Joint Resolution to revise U.S. policy on Iraq. Iraq has fallen into a bloody civil war, and as conditions on the ground have changed so must U.S. policy change to meet them.

The Reid Joint Resolution builds on the longstanding Democratic position on Iraq and the Levin-Reed Amendment: the current conflict in Iraq requires a political solution, Iraq must take responsibility for its own future, and our troops should not be policing a civil war. It contains binding language to direct the President to transition the mission for U.S. forces in Iraq and begin their phased redeployment within one-hundred twenty days with a goal of redeploying all combat forces by March 31, 2008.

. . . "Last November, the American people made a clear call for a new direction, and Democrats are committed to bringing stability to Iraq and bringing our troops home from a civil war."

Let's have no illusions - this has no chance of overcoming a GOP filibuster. But that does not matter. Because Dems are laying down markers - dates certain for when the troops must be out of harm's way. The Spending Power, or NOT Spending Power, as I will now refer to it, will be the key.

This is a start of a long political road. But at least it is in the right direction.

David Sirota crossposts a piece at Daily Kos arguing that Dems are ignoring the judgment of the voters in the 2006 election by not working harder to end the war in Iraq. One commenter disagreed with Sirota on the meaning of the 2006 election, saying:

Ending the war wasn't on the ballot.

Actually, very few Dems ran on "ending the war". Most of them ran on oversight of the war.

To say the vote in November was a vote to end the war is demeaning to each and every voter who voted in the fall. Each voter has their own reasons for voting, and to declare by fiat why they voted is wrong.

This seems not a true statement to me. On the eve of the November 2006 election, the NYTimes reported:

A substantial majority of Americans expect Democrats to reduce or end American military involvement in Iraq if they win control of Congress next Tuesday and say Republicans will maintain or increase troop levels to try to win the war if they hold on to power on Capitol Hill, according to the final New York Times/CBS News poll before the midterm election.

I certainly expected it.

Last August, I wrote a long post on imprisoned video blogger Josh Wolf, sent to jail for refusing to turn over footage of an anti-war demonstration to a grand jury. TChris followed up here. He was held in contempt and jailed. He has been incarcerated longer than any other journalist in U.S. history.

Attytood has the latest, and says it's time to set Wolf free. I heartily concur. As TChris noted in his post,

Journalists should inform the public; they aren't informants for the police.

Robert Novak, the columnist whose July 14, 2003 article outed Valerie Plame Wilson as a CIA operative, has a new pro-Scooter Libby column.

Among his disclosures:

Actually, in my first interview with Fitzgerald after he was named special prosecutor, he indicated that he knew Armitage was my leaker. I assumed that was the product of detective work by the FBI. In fact, Armitage had turned himself in to the Justice Department three months before Fitzgerald entered the case, without notifying the White House or releasing me from my requirement of confidentiality.

Novak also complains that while Valerie Wilson's status wasn't an issue at trial,

....in his closing argument, Fitzgerald referred to Mrs. Wilson's secret status, and in answer to a reporter's question after the verdict, he said she was "classified."

Ted Wells, though, in closing argument, brought the subject up (from the transcript, not available online):

More...

The Out of Iraq caucus is beginning to get some movement out of the timid Dem leadership in the House, succesfully pushing back the retrograde Blue Dogs:

Under the deal, to be formally drafted by the Appropriations Committee next week, Congress would institute the same tough benchmarks for the Iraqi government that Bush detailed in a national address in January. Under those benchmarks, the Iraqi government would have to take responsibility for security in all of Iraq's provinces by November, and adopt and implement oil-revenue-sharing legislation. . . . Bush would have to certify the benchmarks are met by year's end. If not, troops would begin leaving Iraq next spring, with all troops out of combat by the fall, a senior Democratic aide said.

Now this is a terrible proposal because it allows Bush to get off the hook by "certifying" benchmarks are met. Simply unacceptable. But certainly better than just a few days ago. The pressure must continue to build from the Out of Iraq Caucus, the grassroots AND the Netroots. We need to disabuse the Blue Dog notion expressed here:

"The war is the issue, but it's the president's issue, not ours," [Rep.] Boren said.

Today David Broder reveals the silliness of his bipartisanship fetish for all the world to see:

It was not nostalgia or a desire for companionship that brought four former Senate leaders together in a meeting room on Capitol Hill on Tuesday morning, but rather a sense of alarm at the breakdown in civility and at the fierce partisanship that has infected Congress and blocked action on national priorities. . . . Tom Daschle of South Dakota said, "Our goal is not to find common ground among the four of us on every single issue but to find those areas on which common ground can be found, and then see if we can become the catalyst for bringing that common ground to Congress."

Um, thanks Tom. You did a fine job of rolling over finding common ground when you and Senate Dems voted for the Iraq Debacle in 2002. A little too much bipartisanship then don't you think?

Via Greg Sargent, after not reaching agreement with Dem leadership, the Out Of Iraq Caucus will unveil its Iraq proposal tomorrow:

[The Out of Iraq Caucus is] going to present their plan to the public. Tomorrow morning, a group of them -- including Reps. Barbara Lee, Maxine Waters, Jerrold Nadler and others -- will hold a press conference to detail the specifics of their plan. It'll be interesting to see how the House Dem leadership reacts.

As we also reported yesterday, the liberal Dems are privately circulating a "dear colleague" letter designed to win over other House members to their approach[:]

Dear Colleague,

We write to share our thoughts with you about Congressional action regarding the ongoing occupation of Iraq and to make the case for fully funding the safe withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq over a clear timeline.

By framing their discussion of the war in terms of winning and losing, the Bush administration seeks to portray critics of their policies as opposed to victory, or supportive of defeat.

. . . There is no question that moving to stop this folly carries a political risk - the accusation that Democrats gave up on the Vietnam War, despite all evidence that it was an unwinnable conflict, hurt the party's credibility on national security issues for a generation.

But we must consider the very real cost of not acting. We are spending $8 billion a month occupying Iraq, with an average of 67 U.S. troops being killed and 500 being wounded. The cost to our security of having our military bogged down in Iraq indefinitely is unsustainable, and is not only sapping vital funds from efforts to fight global terrorism, but is strengthening jihadist recruitment efforts internationally. The longer we allow the administration to delay meaningful movement, and the longer we fail to extract ourselves from this quagmire, the more dangerous this failed foreign policy becomes to America and the rest of the world.

Wonders never cease. A juror in the Scooter Libby trial recommends he be spared jail and receive a pardon from President Bush.

“He seemed like a ton of fun. ... I didn’t want to see him and his wife and say he was guilty of a crime,” Redington told MSNBC’s Chris Matthews. But she she said she had no choice given the evidence.

“I think he got caught in a difficult situation where he got caught in the initial lie, and it just snowballed,” she said.

Crooks and Liars has the video.

A "ton of fun?" He sat silent at counsel table for five weeks. What seemed fun about him?

Meanwhile, the White House is trying to tone down the pardon speculation. Tony Snow talked about the long legal road ahead for Libby.

More...

Is the Surge working?

For the second straight day, insurgents struck at Shiite pilgrims and other civilians across central Iraq on Wednesday, apparently seeking to reignite a cycle of sectarian retribution as hundreds of thousands of Shiites made their pilgrimage to Karbala to commemorate the martyrdom of Imam Hussein.

. . . At least 70 people were reported killed across Iraq on Wednesday, victims of bombs, drive-by shootings and assassination, according to hospitals and local police officials.

. . . Attacks against Shiite pilgrims making their way to Karbala for the Arbaeen holiday coming this weekend continued on Wednesday, though none were as bad as the coordinated bombings that killed at least 113 people on Tuesday at a false aid station for pilgrims in Hilla.

Not so much.

The feds have gone and done it again, this time in New Bedford, Mass.

Dozens of young children were stranded at schools and with baby sitters after their parents were rounded up by federal authorities who raided a leather goods maker suspected of hiring illegal immigrants, authorities said Wednesday.

Immigration officials said 327 of the 500 employees of Michael Bianco Inc., mostly women, were detained Tuesday by immigration officials for possible deportation as illegal aliens.

About 100 children were stuck with baby sitters, caretakers and others, said Corinn Williams, director of the Community Economic Development Center of Southeastern Massachusetts.

"We're continuing to get stories today about infants that were left behind," she said. "It's been a widespread humanitarian crisis here in New Bedford." (my emphasis)

More...

Crooks and Liars has the video of faux right wing pundit Stephen Colbert's take last night on the Scooter Libby trial. Pretty funny.

New Mexico Governor and Democrat presidential contender Bill Richardson supports medical marijuana:

"We've only got a few days to go, and I'm urging very quick action on the ethics package," he said. "I'm urging very quick, strong action on predatory
lending. I want that cockfighting bill, I want medical marijuana, I want my tax cuts."