And it's on...

The gloves came off today. Nancy Pelosi came right out and said publicly that Bush is in such a hurry to insert more troops into Iraq because he knows that Congress won't cut off funding for troops already in the field.

The White House fired back, calling the Speaker's remarks "poisonous" and denying the political nature of Bush's escalation, insisting the president is ordering the troops in because he thinks it's right, not for political reasons.

Bush "has dug a hole so deep he can't even see the light on this. It's a tragedy. It's a stark blunder." Pelosi said at the National Press Club earlier today. Her salvo came as former Congressman Lee Hamilton, who co-chaired the Iraq Study Group, said the escalation would be counterproductive, delaying the pace of training Iraqi security personnel, and delaying the exit of American forces from Iraq. "You delay the date of completion of the training mission. You delay the date of handing responsibility to the Iraqis. You delay the date of departure of U.S. troops" from the region, Hamilton told the House Foreign Affairs Committee about the buildup.

Meantime, Republican Senators were getting together and parsing the wording of the non-binding resolution and making slight edits to the text that would allow them to cross the aisle and vote with the Democrats when it comes up in the Senate next week.

As for me, I'm ready for the Democrats to start fighting. Hubert Humphry Democrats didn't restore the majority. Harry Truman Democrats, however, are experiencing a resurgence. And not a moment too soon!

Pelosi Fulfills a Campaign Promise

Nancy Pelosi is a woman of her word. During the campaign, she promised oversight, and we are going to get it.

The incoming Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi announced late last week that the new congress will step up intelligence oversight. This answers complaints by security specialists and lawmakers from both sides of the aisle that Congress has been lax in monitoring the highly secretive, some might even say paranoid, intelligence community.

The new oversight will be administered from a task force within the all-powerfull House Appropriations Committee. The new oversight task force will examine the intelligence budget, monitor spending, and keep the classified books.

"I know it will make the American people safer," Pelosi said of the task force. For the first time, there will be a conduit of information between the authorization side of the intelligence budget (authorizatuion does the actual intel gathering efforts) and the appropriations side (which determines how the money should be spent).

The Intelligence Budget is one of the most top-secret documents in Government. Very few congresspersons are authorized to see it - they can only look at it in a secured room - and after they view it they can not discuss what they have seen either in public forums or even in the congress. Some information in the Intelligence Budget can only be seen by the chairpersons and select ranking members of the Senate and House Armed Services Committees.

Incoming Speaker Pelosi is of the opinion that the requested intelligence budget should be public, and a greater number of lawmakers should have access to the information in the intelligence budget. Some information in the Intelligence Budget can only be seen by the chairpersons and select ranking members of the Senate and House Armed Services Committees.

One of the key recommendations of the September 11 Commission was the creation of just such an oversight committee, but the idea never saw the light of day during the Reign of Republican Incompetence. (God forbid they would ever take any steps to foster accountability). She was quick to add that her embrace of openness "isn't a view that is shared by all in Congress." Nor is this embrace of openness received well by the Bush administration, but they want to classify yesterdays lunch menu and tonights TV listings, so really, who is surpeised at that bit of "news"?

That age of accountability I've been agitating for? Well don't count your chickens before they hatch, but prospects are looking better every day that I just might get that pony for Christmas.