As Bush prepares to veto the Iraq supplemental today, there are signs that Democrats are backing down from an all out confrontation with the White House and that Republicans are signing on to the idea of including benchmarks in the next version of the supplemental.

The political result of this entire, drawn out affair is going to be a push: the Democrats have made a show of force for their base and will get the veto they want, and Bush will eventually get the war funding without a timetable for withdrawal. It doesn't do anything to change the political dynamic or the reality of the issue of Iraq.

From the beginning this was a fairly transparent set piece of political theater with a highly predictable outcome, and the Dems appear to have drawn it out on purpose to squeeze out every last ounce of political symbolism.

Thank goodness our leaders in Washington DC aren't playing politics with the war.