Just For Lynne

Hey Lynne, just for you:

Check this out -- the offices of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid are denying a Washington Post story today saying that Congressional Democrats have backed down to the White House by offering to remove Iraq withdrawal language from the now-vetoed Iraq bill.

Pelosi just went before the Democratic caucus and informed them that the story's false, a Pelosi aide tells me. WaPo is standing by the story, and the lead writer of the Post piece, Jonathan Weisman, told me that leadership aides told him that the withdrawal language had to go. But the WaPo story goes further than that, saying explicitly that Dems have already "backed down" and offered the concession of removing the withdrawal language. Those aren't the same thing.

Maybe less despair now?

Here's my take. This is a trial balloon. The Democratic leadership wants to know just how big of a backlash there will be if they back away from timelines.

If you don't want Congress to back off in the face-off with the Preznit, this would be a good time to contact your Senator and Congress-critter:

House

Senate