Of high horses, stampedes, and splattering manure

It went on . . . for hours, with Republicans and Democrats alike pelting Rumsfeld and the three top generals with complaints. Gen. John Abizaid, the commander of Central Command, contradicted Vice President Cheney's contention that the Iraq insurgency is in its last throes. Abizaid said that the level of insurgents is not in decline. There's a lot of work in Iraq left to do, he said.

At one point, Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., said he couldn't take it any more. He said Americans have a right to know what's happening in Iraq because they're paying for the war with the lives of their young men and women and billions of tax dollars.

Looking at Rumsfeld, Byrd accused him of sneering. "I don't mean to be discourteous, but I've heard enough of your smart answers. Get off your high horse when you come up here. I have to run for reelection and you don't. We represent the American people and they are asking questions. They haven't been told the truth. The administration says we're unpatriotic if we ask questions, but that's our job."

From "Washington Watch: Senators demand hard answers on Iraq," by Ann McFeatters of the Block News Alliance at SITNEWS, Ketchican, Alaska]