The House non-binding resolution calling for the immediate withdrawal of American troops from Iraq failed in dramatic fashion. Of course, Democrats, realizing that they couldn’t possibly win, played the roles of martyrs; they cried foul and called names and pointed fingers, which is only funny because of all the noise they’ve been making about the war.

It was a stunt in the sense that the resolution never had a chance to pass. It was political theater in the sense that Republicans were making a grand statement about recent behavior from the opposition. It was also Republicans giving Democrats an opportunity to show a little backbone and vote for precisely what some of them have been calling for: the removal of American troops from Iraqi soil.

Predictably, politicians presented with an opportunity to show fortitude rarely rise to the challenge (and that goes for Republicans, too--how many opportunities have been lost to trim budgets and advance a sane fiscal policy over the last five years? (and how’s that for a freakin’ non sequitur?). The vote failed 403-3 with Democrats vowing to not vote their collective conscience, rendering their own votes slightly less than honest.

Democrats said it was a political stunt and quickly decided to vote against it in an attempt to drain it of significance.

“A disgrace,” declared House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. “The rankest of politics and the absence of any sense of shame,” added Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, the No. 2 House Democrat.

To Pelosi, it’s a disgrace for the Republicans to call a vote that they couldn’t lose. Not the word that I would choose, but fine. What is it, though, when politicians vow publicly to vote against their own beliefs simply out of a childish fit of pique?

In fact, I have a much greater respect for the idiots who voted for the measure--Jose Serrano from New York, Robert Wexler from Florida, and Cynthia McKinney from Georgia--than I do for those Reps who wouldn’t even stand up for their own beliefs. Even the six “present” votes were more of a statement than a hollow “nay” from people who, given the choice, would happily cut and run.

Update: More from Wizbang. And the comment thread over here is pretty freakin’ fun, too.

Update 2: Linked by Alphabet City, which has a series of connected thoughts and great links.