White House bait and switch.

It;s funny, this whole time W. has been telling everyone to keep their shirts on, wait for his good buddy David (Petraeus) to come back to Congress on September 15, before coming to any conclusions about the success or failure of the Surge. Now, all of a sudden -- surprise, surprise -- the WaPo reports:

"Senior congressional aides said yesterday that the White House has proposed limiting the much-anticipated appearance on Capital Hill next month of General David H. Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker to a private congressional briefing, suggesting instead that the Bush administration's progress report on the Iraq war should be delivered to Congress by the secretaries of state and defense. "

Wow, you really get the impression they want Petraeus giving a frank assessment of the situation over there in public testimony. You think they might be afraid Petraeus has gotten wise to the fact that W. has been touting him as the great savior of his Iraq debacle at every opportunity he gets? You Maybe, Petraeus doesn't play the good soldier and take one for W. & Co. Perhaps, he goes up there and says unless we want to stay ijn Iraq for another generation, we should pack it in. Lay in W.'s lap.

That might be better, though, than having Condi appear. They're maul her.