Political Cortex: Brain Food for the Body Politic

Congress is a group of elected officials constantly at war with the electorate. In 2006 they continually insisted that if elected they would bring an end to the disastrous war and ongoing occupation of Iraq.  Last week the leaders of both branches said, "We have achieved progress, and we are obviously going to do everything that we can to build on the progress."

Yesterday, they had the opportunity to pass two important bills to advance their support for our troops in Iraq and alter the direction of the ongoing catastrophe. Instead they chose to condemn an article we placed in the New York Times. We hear of bruised egos, hurt feelings, and improprieties.  But we don't hear of how many more troops will be hurt or killed because of their willful inaction.

More importantly, Congress cannot admit what everyone knows: Iraq is a bloodbath with or without us.  They will not admit that American troops are condemned to remain in Iraq through at least one more election cycle.

CENTCOM Commander Admiral William Fallon has referred to "Surge Architect"
General David Petraeus has an "Ass-kissing little chickenshit", far worse than the "Betray Us" invective coined by his own troops and pointed out by us. Today, perhaps, it is Congress that has actually betrayed us.

Congress has vowed to convene a special session this weekend to vote on another condemnation of the latest ad. Preliminary polling of the Senate indicates that the condemnation would pass handily with 80 votes for and 20 votes against. This margin guarantees that there would be no veto from the president.

The White House refused to directly comment on either the ad or Congress's proposed response. "Unlike the blatantly partisan smear directed at General Petraeus, they may actually have a point here," stated White House spokesperson Dana Perino. "The President is happy to see the national dialogue gravitate towards these more important and debatable issues, but is clearly disappointed over the language."