My respect for Nancy Pelosi just continues to grow. She threw down a big, clanking iron gauntlet this weekend -- one that is going to send the rightwing blogosphere into apoplexy when they realize it (which will probably start later today). And, it should be noted, it has absolutely nothing to do with the plane she flies in.

Pelosi sent her lieutenant (Democratic House Majority Leader) Steny Hoyer to this Sunday's Meet The Press to toss this challenge at the feet of Minority Leader John Boehner (please resist the urge to pronounce his name BONE-er, it's actually pronounced BAY-ner... ahem): Democrats are not going to allow any Republican-worded resolutions to come to the House floor for debate this week. There will be ONE resolution (the Democratic one), and that's all House members will have the chance to vote on.

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[This article has been updated. See below.]

It has been a while since I wrote about torture. I don't really have anything to add to the debate other than to stand by my previous article.

What I do have to offer is the words of one of the interrogators of Iraqi prisoners. His name is Eric Fair and he wrote the following for the Washington Post:

"American authorities continue to insist that the abuse of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib was an isolated incident in an otherwise well-run detention system. That insistence, however, stands in sharp contrast to my own experiences as an interrogator in Iraq. I watched as detainees were forced to stand naked all night, shivering in their cold cells and pleading with their captors for help. Others were subjected to long periods of isolation in pitch-black rooms. Food and sleep deprivation were common, along with a variety of physical abuse, including punching and kicking. Aggressive, and in many ways abusive, techniques were used daily in Iraq, all in the name of acquiring the intelligence necessary to bring an end to the insurgency. The violence raging there today is evidence that those tactics never worked. My memories are evidence that those tactics were terribly wrong."

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So President George Bush gave Democrats an early Valentine's Day present last weekend. He actually addressed the Democratic Party's "sanctum sanctorum" retreat, the first time he's done so in six years. He even answered questions! Perhaps the Democrats' new congressional majorities have forced him to attempt a bipartisan outreach, perhaps he decided to get lovey-dovey with the Democrats all on his own, or perhaps a naked flying baby was exercising his Second Amendment rights and shot Dubya with a Democratic love arrow, two weeks early.

You be the judge.

Bush not only went into the Democratic lion's den (so to speak), he also utilized some humor to defuse the situation. This, it should be noted, is the second time in as many weeks that Bush has been delivering punchlines. Maybe the midterm election defeat loosened him up; in the same way Al Gore was seen to flourish (personality-wise) after his presidential campaign was over. Whatever the reason, Bush was playing to the inside-the-Beltway set, and he actually got off a good joke.

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This isn't going to make me any friends on the left, but it must be said.

It takes a lot of time for Congress to end a war, even an unpopular one.

Some may see this as a radically inflammatory statement, but it really isn't. It's grounded in a realistic view of the way Washington works.

Getting out of Iraq is just not going to happen overnight, especially with the Senate balanced on a 49-2-49 knife edge. This is political reality, and to deny it is foolish.

While there are strident voices on the left crying for immediate troop withdrawal, they need to realize that this is going to be a long, hard slog. I say this not to dampen their enthusiasm, or in any attempt to convince people to "tone it down." Far from it. More power to the vocal anti-war folks! Their voices are a key ingredient in how the war will end. I merely counsel patience and stamina, because it's going to take a while to build consensus in Washington.

It should also be noted up front that the end result is going to make nobody happy. This is the nature of compromise. The left will be disappointed because the troop withdrawal won't start for many months, and will take further months to complete. The right will be enraged that we're "losing" the war, and will never face up to the reality that the war has already been lost. For them to admit this would cause them to totally and completely change their world-view, and that's not going to happen.

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While researching tomorrow's article, I came across three Bush factoids that deserve a spotlight.

The first comes from an NPR interview, where a journalist (Juan Williams) finally asked Bush the question many have long been waiting to hear:

MR. WILLIAMS: By the way, in the speech, you spoke about the Democrats. You said, you congratulated the Democrat majority. And I notice your prepared text said Democratic majority. I surely think that you know that for the Democrats, they think when you say Democrat, it's like fingernails on the blackboard. They don't like it. They like you to say Democratic.

PRESIDENT BUSH: Yeah. Well, that was an oversight then. I mean, I'm not trying to needle. Look, I went into the hall saying we can work together and I was very sincere about it. I didn't even know I did it.

MR. WILLIAMS: OK.

PRESIDENT BUSH: And that I did, I didn't mean to be putting fingernails on the board, I meant to be saying why don't we show the American people we can actually work together? There is a lot of politics in Washington -- in my judgment, needless politics. And it's almost like, if George Bush is for it, we're against it, and I -- and if he's against it, we're for it. And the American people don't like that.

And I'm going to tell you some big issues we need to work on. One is entitlements. Your grandchildren are going to grow up with a Social Security system that is broke unless we do something about it. Now, I understand how hard that is. I mean, it's -- But the solution can be done. But it requires a lot of political, you know, capital to be spent. And there is distrust in Washington. I am surprised, frankly, at the amount of distrust that exists in this town. And I'm sorry it's the case, and I'll work hard to try to elevate it. So the idea that somehow I was trying to needle the Democrats, it's just -- gosh, it's probably Texas. Who knows what it is. But I'm not that good at pronouncing words anyway, Juan.

In other words, it wasn't a slur, I'm from Texas and don't know English. Which leads us right to the next item.

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There have been two recent posts about California's presidential primary here on Huffington Post in the past few days, one from Christine Pelosi (Nancy's daughter), and one from Rick Jacobs.

I wrote about this issue previously here (last July), and in an opinion piece for the San Jose Mercury News (last June).

I have cut and pasted below my previous Huffington Post article, which is as relevant to the debate now as when I wrote it. [The only thing I changed was the link to the Mercury News piece, since you cannot view it on their site anymore without paying $2.95 for the privilege. It now links to a duplicate of the article's text.]

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[With massive apologies to Joseph Heller, in advance...]

Yossarian approached the medical tent, where Doc Daneeka was sunning himself.

"This surge plan is crazy."

"Surge is out," Doc Daneeka replied. "It's now an augmentation."

"Augmentation?"

"That's right. Augmentation. It's not a surge, and it's definitely not an escalation."

"That's ridiculous," said Yossarian. "That makes it sound like Iraq's getting a boob job." He thought about this for a moment.

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Last week, a prominent Republican leader gave voice to a monumentally stupid idea. Surprisingly, this does not (just) describe President Bush's speech. I refer instead to a little-noticed quote from House Minority Whip Roy Blunt. He seems somewhat annoyed that the Democratic House majority is actually delivering on their "100 hours" promises.

Still, his choice of words is embarrassingly revealing: "The Democrats will soon move from these issues that poll at 80, 90 percent to issues that really matter."

Wow. Think about that for a minute. The cluelessness in coming up with such a statement is truly mind-boggling: "issues that poll at 80, 90 percent" are not "issues that really matter," according to the current Republican congressional leadership. This is earthshaking, because for years Republicans have been hammering Democrats for being "elitist." Now it seems the Republicans are showing their own true "elitist" colors, for all to see.

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Much attention has been paid to President Bush's speech on Wednesday, and the fact that the escalation's chances for success rest on the willingness of Prime Minister Maliki and the Iraq government to take on the sectarian violence in an evenhanded way (i.e., going after the Mahdi Army and other Shiite militias).

But even if Maliki did everything Bush wanted him to, his plan is still going to fail, because it relies heavily on the Iraqi Army to pacify Baghdad. And the Iraqi Army is a joke.

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Much to everyone's surprise, congressional Democrats are actually stealing President Bush's thunder before he gives his speech tonight. In the last 48 hours or so, the Democrats (led by Senator Kennedy) have launched a brilliant pre-emptive strike on the news media in preparation for President Bush's speech tonight on Iraq. And it's working wonders.

Although this Democratic activity is somewhat unfocused (these are still Democrats, after all), with competing ideas vying for attention, the miracle is how fast it all happened. Washington is not a town known for such blinding speed. Quite the opposite, in fact (no matter which party is in control). So it truly is amazing how fast and hard the Democrats are hitting back. Whether these efforts will bear fruit or not remains to be seen, but it's a good omen for the future of the 110th Congress. And it will be interesting to see Bush give his speech tonight, since he has been forced into a defensive position before he even begins speaking.

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