So, what's up with Pelosi and Reid?

So, it appears that both Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi have denied the Washington Post story this morning that they have taken deadlines off the table. However, it appears the denial may be simply to appease the anti-war wing of the Party.

In a closed-door meeting Thursday with members, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (news, bio, voting record), D-Calif., echoed Reid's remark that Democrats have not agreed to drop language on troop withdrawals. Pelosi and Reid are trying to reassure more liberal members of their caucus that Democrats were not backing down. But privately, several Democrats have signaled they intend to do so to avoid a second veto and plan to focus their attention instead on upcoming spending bills.

I guess we'll just have to wait to see what comes out. One idea has been to pass only very short-term (e.g., 2-month) funding bills, giving the Congress a chance to revisit this frequently. If there were some real possibility that Congress would eventually shut the thing down, I might go along with this, but I don't think there is.

Meanwhile, Josh Marshall tells us the WaPo is sticking by its story.