Can you run that one by me again, Nancy?

See, this is how I get confused sometimes, and why I come around to Dmitry Orlov's idea that there is a Uniparty formed by two branches of the same party, both of the Center Right, which pretend to disagree on policy issues to maintain the marketability of their respective "brands."

I am certain that you recall, as I do, the dynamic leadership of Nancy Pelosi (D-Golden Gate Bridge) who, upon ascending to the Speakership of the House in the fall of 2006, immediately withdrew funding from the Iraq War except as necessary to bring the troops home. She knew that the American populace had grown completely disenchanted with this pointless misadventure, saw it as a colossal, counter-productive folly, wasteful of lives and scarce American treasure, and saw the big victory of the Democrats in the 2006 midterms as a mandate for change. Which is why she immediately said:

“We will not cut off funding for the troops,” Pelosi said. “Absolutely not,” she said.

A reporter had asked Pelosi if the new Democratic-controlled Congress would vote to end the funding of the war if Democrats were unable to persuade President Bush to change his Iraq strategy.

“Let me remove all doubt in anyone’s mind; as long as our troops are in harm’s way, Democrats will be there to support them, but… we will have oversight over that funding,” she said.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the Constitution pretty much guarantees that the House has "oversight" over that and all other funding. So that's not as reassuring as it sounds on first hearing. But along with taking "impeachment off the table," Nancy, while playing various games designed to demonstrate that the Democrats would certainly end the war if only they could (which they always could, by ending funding), decided that the voters didn't really mean it in 2006, and that the public opinion polls demonstrating the massive unpopularity of the war (along with the polls taken in the voting booths) should not be taken too literally, and certainly not to the extent of actually ending the war. So the war went on and on. Which, since Nancy Pelosi remained Speaker then and now, must in turn be taken to mean that despite occasional noises to the contrary, she must have really believed in the Iraq war. Because any contrary inference would mean she was just as cynical as Bush, and kept funding the war for Bush just so she could position the Democrats to retake the White House in 2008. Which is to say, Nancy Pelosi was willing to leave soldiers in harm's way, getting blown up and killed, or their limbs traumatically amputated, or blinded or brain-damaged, simply for a political leg up.

And I'm just not going to buy that. So I must conclude that she supported the war funding because she believed in the mission, the war in Iraq, and the sacrifice of our soldiers. Although, here I go again (and I'm getting whiplashed from all the volte-faces), then I heard her say to a group of econobloggers by conference call just yesterday::

"What did we decide, that Iraq was at least $2 trillion? And for what? I mean, God bless our soldiers for their courage and their sacrifice and that of their families. But $2 trillion for what?" said Pelosi. "Think of the opportunity cost when you break it down, when we talk about cancer, for example. We spent in two weeks in Iraq what we spent in a year on cancer research. With all that scientific opportunity that was available to us, we couldn't afford to do more. But we certainly could afford -- or so they told us -- to be in Iraq."

Um, okay Nancy, but you see where I'm getting confused. I completely agree with you about the opportunity cost, and we've all become acquainted with Joseph Stiglitz's estimate of the long-term costs of the Iraq War, where $2 trillion is the low estimate. And really, when you think about it, there was only one person in the United States, beginning in January, 2007, who was actually in a position to put the brakes on the Bush/Cheney war juggernaut, who had the political power as the head of the funding branch of Congress under the U.S. Constitution, to end the war by the only means that Bush would have been forced to recognize: by defunding the war. That person is you, Speaker Pelosi. You were the leader with the power. So when you say, "so they told us" that we could afford the war, who is it you're referring to?

So just to sum up: what the hell are you talking about? You are absolutely the last person in America who should be talking about all the lives and money wasted in Iraq, because you're right: the war was for nothing, your sops to the troops in the midst of your latest political posturing are insulting and disingenuous, and you completely blew it for you and the rest of us when you had the chance to change things but decided to be a politician instead.

And you're hinting now that Obama is going to have a tough time getting funding for his Afghan surge? Since that's not actually what you mean, what is the lie for this time?