You have to hand it to Democratic House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey. Not only is he looking for a way to lose the war in Iraq and deny our troops credit for all the progress they've made in recent months, he has found a way to tie it all into a tax increase.

It's the ultimate liberal trifecta!

If violence is decreasing in Iraq, it may be because insurgents "are running out of people to kill," House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D-Wis.) said Monday.

"There are fewer targets of opportunity," Obey said in a speech to the National Press Club.

Obey was responding to a question about reports touted by Republicans that security is improving in Iraq and that President Bush's "surge" strategy is working.

...In his speech Monday, he stuck by his pledge not to approve any more money for the war until President Bush changes course on Iraq. He also offered a spirited defense of a new surtax to pay for the Iraq war, admitting that he knew it wouldn't pass when he offered his support for the plan. But he said it highlighted the fact that Bush has loaded the cost of the war onto the national debt while pushing tax cuts tilted to the wealthy.

If Obey had just managed to slip in a mention of socialized medicine and global warming, he would have almost the entire Democratic agenda for 2008 in one fell swoop.