... that something hard, something bony, something filled with nerve bundles, something that starts at the base of the neck and extends to the top of the arse, has been seen to be growing on the back sides of congressional Republicans...
... and it is a refreshing, and long over due, sight:
House Republicans maneuvered for swift rejection Friday of any notion of immediately pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq, sparking a nasty, sometimes personal debate over the war following a Democratic lawmaker's own call for withdrawal.
Just a day after Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., stoked a surging political fire over President Bush's Iraq policies by proposing that troops return home now, Republicans brought a measure to the House floor urging that a pullout begin immediately.
The symbolic vote was intended to fail, and furious Democrats accused the GOP of orchestrating a political stunt.
"A disgrace," declared House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. "The rankest of politics and the absence of any sense of shame," added Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, the No. 2 House Democrat.
Republicans hoped to place Democrats in an unappealing position _ either supporting a withdrawal that critics said would be precipitous or opposing it and angering voters who want an end to the conflict. They also hoped the vote could restore GOP momentum on an issue _ the war _ that has seen plummeting public support in recent weeks.
"We want to make sure that we support our troops that are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. We will not retreat," Speaker Dennis Hastert, R- Ill., said of the nonbinding resolution.
Charge.
UPDATE: Ian has a must see video of Rep. Jean Schmidt (R - OH) relaying a message from Colonel Danny Bubp to not just congressional Democrats but to the world. I do mean must see.
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