Swimming Upstream

Whew! Long day yesterday and I just crashed when I got to the hotel last night. Clear but cold here in Indianapolis but no snow. Some progress yesterday with access as I actually have a badge and it will open the door to the work area. Can't get anywhere else yet...not even to the coffee machine on the floor below but some progress. Continue the fight with the IT organization today over network access which is turning out to be the biggest obstacle to getting any work done.

I see the tide continues to turn against Bush's war. More numbers from the Washington Post-ABC News poll show that the American people are way out in front of the politicians on the war. Now two-thirds of Americans oppose the escalation of the Iraq war and 53% of Americans want a hard deadline for withdrawal. It is also interesting that, by a wide margin, Americans are behind Murtha's plan to limit deployment to troops that are actually ready.

There was clear support, however, for the kinds of conditions proposed by Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), who wants to establish requirements for the training and resting of military units that would have the effect of limiting the number of troops available to send to Iraq.

Murtha's plan has drawn fire in the House, including from some of his Democratic colleagues, after it was unveiled on a liberal Web site. The Post-ABC News poll, which did not associate the plan with Murtha, found that 58 percent of Americans said they support such new rules. Even some Americans, 21 percent, who supported the president's troop surge said they would favor rules for training and resting troops.

The folks in Washington, on both sides of the aisle, better wake up and listen carefully...the American people want this war over and they are losing their patience.