So Senators Warner (R), Collins (R), and Nelson (D) have just unveiled their resolution condemning President Bush’s escalation plan. It’s meant as a softer alternative to the “toughly worded” resolution introduced last week by Senators Hagel (R) and Biden (D). So what are the differences?

From today’s Warner-Collins resolution:

…the Senate disagrees with the “plan” to augment our forces by 21,500, and urges the President instead to consider all options and alternatives for achieving the strategic goals set forth below with reduced force levels than proposed…

And here’s the corresponding passage from last week’s Hagel-Biden resolution:

…it is not in the national interest of the United States to deepen its military involvement in Iraq, particularly by escalating the United States military force presence in Iraq…

So “escalate” in the Hagel-Biden resolution became “augment” in today’s Warner-Collins one. This key revision is supposed to help make it easier for more Senators to sign on and declare their opposition to an escalation plan that’s opposed by roughly 60 percent of the American public in most polls.

Your public servants at work.

You can see the two resolutions here and here in our TPM Document Collection. For more on this unsightly burlesque, click here.

Again we’re shocked. Fox News and the Washington Times get caught peddling a complete fabrication. It’s left to CNN to debunk the imbecilic and journalistically depraved Obama-Madrassa story.

You probably know about Maher Arar. He’s the apparently-innocent Syrian-born Canadian national who the US sent to Syria to be tortured.

Attorney General Gonzales and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff say they’re keeping Arar on the terrorist watch-list.

So who will Fox News fire for peddling the Obama hoax? How about the Washington Times? Who will they fire?

TPM Reader JW chimes in on Obama …

I was surprised at work the other day when I heard two of my co-workers discussing Obama. One, a right winger, called him “Osama” and said he’s a Muslim. I said his name correctly and said he wasn’t a Muslim. The other, a hard-core liberal hippie, said something in support, then added, “He is a Muslim, though.” This threw me: I was far from an Obama expert, but I remembered Obama being a Christian. Their
resoluteness quieted me, though. So, now I check, and of course, he’s a Baptist – and I remember how he said the title of his book came from a sermon from his pastor. So, the point is this: the bigger meme is just
to make people think Obama’s a Muslim. Obviously someone has been putting out this meme even before this new fabrication. Even if people hear that the madrassa he attended wasn’t radical, the main sales pitch
has been delivered: Obama was at a madrassa because he’s a Muslim. Not that it matters to me what his religious affiliation is. But this is the hook, and a lot of people will be driven off from Obama just for
this simple deception. His religion, remarkably, needs to be clarified for most people.

Soup to nuts. Or in this case, Greenfield to Fox.

We’re truly entering into anti-Bush valhalla here. Bush at 28% approval in the new CBS poll.

Cheney’s Daughter: More Iraq war is the only answer.

Actually, give it a read. Is it just me or does this column read like it was written by someone in junior high?

Today’s Must Read: the Democrats’ prospects for passing a bill to slow global warming.

It’s pretty sad when you can catch the bureau chief of a major news magazine in silly errors like this.

Guess which Washington Post reporter is taking questions from readers today at 11 A.M.? Our good friend John Solomon.

This might be a good occasion for readers to ask Solomon some of the many outstanding questions about the hit-piece he did last week on John Edwards. The chat will be held here.

We have a list of ideas for questions here.