I'm trying as hard as I can to avoid attacking Moveon, but I'm afraid they are making it very hard for me.

First they ran a dishonest poll on the Iraq Supplemental that left out the one option their supporters want most - a real plan to get out of Iraq as quickly as possible. That plan is Rep. Barbara Lee's "fully funded withdrawal."

And when we and others challenged their dishonesty, they compounded their problems with more dishonesty today:

P.S. Some of you have asked whether we support the Lee Amendment, a proposal that would accelerate the end of the war. Of course we do--we'd love for the proposal to bring our troops home sooner, and MoveOn members are pretty clear on that point. We've been fighting for as strong a bill as possible. Right now, the Lee Amendment is not being offered, but if it comes up, we'll definitely encourage Congress to vote for it.

1. Barbara Lee's amendment wouldn't "accelerate the end of the war" - it would end it by restricting the use of all funds to a "fully funded withdrawal," which is exactly what Speaker Pelosi's bill would not do.

2. The Lee Amendment is "not being offered" because Speaker Pelosi won't let Lee offer it - and Moveon is using its dishonest poll to try to help Pelosi undercut Lee's support among otherwise progressive Democrats like Maurice Hinchey, Jerrold Nadler, Jan Schakowsky, and Jose Serrano. As Congress Daily reports (h/t Stoller)

Aides said the support of anti-war groups and increased pressure from leaders on lawmakers on the fence have limited liberal defections and have converted some former opponents, particularly anti-war freshmen.

But Pelosi's strategy is not working. The truly progressive Members led by Barbara Lee, Maxine Waters, Lynn Woolsey, and Dennis Kucinich refuse to buckle. Her top lieutenant Steny Hoyer admitted today they don't have 218 votes yet and will not schedule a vote until they do, even though they told everyone the vote would be Thursday.

And Pelosi is so desperate to get 218 votes that she is turning the bill into a porkfest, and thereby turning her leadership into a joke for the likes of CNN's Jack Cafferty:

Should Democrats include funding for spinach growers, shrimp fishermen and peanut storage in the Iraq war funding bill? 

It's no wonder the approval ratings of Pelosi's Democratic Congress, which rose on the hope that Democrats would end the war, are falling to pre-election Republican levels.

"One possibility is that Democrats are disappointed that their party has been unable to do anything substantive about the Iraq war -- the dominant issue in last November's midterm elections."

Worst of all, Pelosi is threatening to destroy the Democratic Caucus by forming an alliance with Republicans to rubber-stamp Bush's money if her toothless bill fails.

Pelosi is not threatening the rebellious Democrats with the "clean bill" alternative, caution Democratic insiders. [Oh no?] Instead, she's making sure that these lawmakers know she'll do whatever it takes to pass an emergency funding bill, with or without their support.

"We've got to govern, and we have to govern responsibly," a Democratic insider said of Pelosi's message to the wavering Democrats. "This is as far as we could go for them in that direction. If that is not successful, we will go in the other direction and seek Republican votes to pass a clean bill."

But veteran progressive Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA) gently called her bluff:

“The best way to keep [the troops] safe is to bring them home,” Stark said. “It’s difficult to oppose [House Speaker] Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). She’s a great leader and working wonders to get this passed, but some things I can’t vote for.”

He added that if the resolution fails, “It won’t look good, like the Democrats can’t get their act together, but that’s OK. We can write a better bill.”

As I wrote above, I'm really trying to avoid attacking Moveon. But if they don't start telling the truth, some of the most dedicated progressives in the blogosphere are going to look for other groups to support instead of Moveon.

That would be extremely sad because Moveon's leaders are personal friends and they have done tremendous work over the years.

But the country wants to end the Iraq War now, and the progressive activists who elected a Democratic Congress to end the war are not going to let Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer keep the war going for at least two more years.

Update 1: Big Tent Democrat is doing outstanding work debunking the Pelosi/Moveon arguments:

If you support funding the war through September 2008 (which mean funding it past that because only a fool thinks the Congress will cut off funding 2 months befoe an election) you do NOT support the Lee Amendment. This is just nonsense from Move On. The Lee Amendment would be moot if the House funding bill becomes law. Let's hope it does not so Move On can ACTUALLY support the Lee Amendment.

Update 2: Chris Bowers wants progressives to bend over (he says "fall in line") for the Bush Democrats who removed all teeth from the Pelosi/Murtha bill. Why?

not only will we get an even worse bill, but we will also get a national narrative on how we don't have our own House in order on Iraq... I don't think we can do any better than we already have on this particular bill.

Chris, let me repeat Pete Stark's quote for you:

He added that if the resolution fails, “It won’t look good, like the Democrats can’t get their act together, but that’s OK. We can write a better bill.”

Pete Stark rightly refuses to bend over for the Bush Democrats. Why on earth should the Netroots?