Eating my words on Petreaus

Unlike many people, I love to be proven wrong, especially about things that upset me, so I'm thrilled to issue this correction. According to the latest buzz, it appears I jumped the gun on accusing Petreaus of meeting only with Republicans. Andrea Mitchell on Hardball defends her scoop and this time couches her language very carefully.

MATTHEWS: What is Petraeus, General Petraeus saying over there about -- what`s he been telling people about that?

MITCHELL: Well, it`s a good thing you bring that out. He`s been telling senators -- he had, in fact, a closed-circuit briefing for the senators, Democrats as well as Republicans, and he is telling them that he will report some progress, that he hopes to be able to report some progress by August. And in turn, what many Republican senators are saying, Chris, is that if there isn`t real progress by the end of the summer, that`s when there are going to really break with the president, that they`re going along with this surge out of respect for the generals. But in his closed briefing -- they went over to the Pentagon and had that briefing, Democrats as well as Republican senators, and he made it clear to them that he thinks he can report some progress.

One might think yesterday's Blogtopia-wide outrage reached the media's radar screen in light of the emphasis on the bi-partisan nature of the briefing. I'm relieved to hear that but it doesn't do much to diminish my disgust that these guys are playing politics while our soldiers are dying in Baghdad. I still think if they have a date certain in mind when they're willing to pull the plug, they should have passed a bi-partisan bill by now that says as much. It would save time and maybe a few soldier's lives down the line.

I leave it to RedState and James Joyner to correct their own erroneous allegations that the Democrats refused to give Petreaus the courtesy of listening to him, at least this time.